Late Night Conversations
by womanofwords
Summary: Conversation was the last thing Touma expected from her. He also never expected to learn so much about himself in the process. Genres and ratings may change.
1. Watching

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part One: Watching

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>Touma felt like some kind of predator watching her. If he were an outsider to the situation, he would have found his own stares kind of creepy. Any rationalization he made to justify it just made it sound worse.<p>

So why did he keep staring?

It wasn't out of any kind of feelings toward her. He didn't even know the girl. They just happened to frequent the same diner late at night. He would stop by for coffee and an egg sandwich late at night when his mind was racing and he couldn't sleep, and she would be there. She'd be sitting in a booth across from him, always reading a book while she absentmindedly nibbled at a plate of French fries and gravy and sipped at some sort of juice drink he could never identify.

Touma noticed that the servers seemed to know her as more than just a frequent customer. Two of the servers in particular seemed to know her personally. He guessed one of them was her brother: the two looked alike with dark eyes and hair, they sometimes sat together when the guy was on breaks, and the server would always tap the girl lightly on the head as he passed by in some sort of playful familial gesture. The other server was a bit of a mystery, as he had lighter hair and eyes than the other two but seemed just as close.

After observing them for months, Touma had come up with a story for them. In his story, the girl and the dark-haired server were siblings from some country in Eastern Europe (he figured it was Ukraine, or perhaps Bulgaria). They had traveled to Western Europe, perhaps for work for the brother and school for the sister, and met their light-haired friend in someplace like Belgium. From there, the three of them lived in Belgium for a year and on a whim one day, decided to travel the world (or at least as much of it as they could see in one summer) but ran out of money in Japan (in Touma's mind, Japan had been the light-haired boy's idea, and the girl helped him cajole her brother into it). Rather than call home and get money to fly back, they decided to settle down, enrolled the girl in school, and the boys took jobs as servers. The girl joined them whenever they both had night shifts because they didn't want her left alone in their apartment, which was probably shabby and could easily be broken into.

Touma knew he was probably wrong. It was all just stuff he had come up with based on observations while he stared at the girl. It was obvious she and the dark-haired server were from a different country than the light-haired server (the language they spoke to each other had tones of a Slavic language, and while the light-haired boy spoke it, he seemed to do so with a degree of difficulty), and that the three of them were foreigners, but he doubted it was that silly of a story. It was probably something simpler, more realistic.

Touma took a bite of his sandwich as he stole another look at the girl. This time, rather than looking at her book, she stared back. Before he had a chance to look away, she grabbed her things and slid into his booth, sitting across from him.

"Why do you stare at me every night?" she asked. She had a thick accent that made her a little difficult to understand, but the knit of her brows and the curious frown on her face said it all. "You're here every night, and every night you stare at me. Why?"

Touma was struck dumb. Why, indeed? He didn't know her, had no attachment to her. So why did he stare?

"You're different. I want to know you." Did those words really come out of his mouth? It was his own voice he heard, so he must have said them.

The girl quirked an eyebrow at him and said nothing, but her frown softened and she leaned forward just a little. She looked him in the eye, held it a moment, and then looked back down to her fries. She took one and bit into it, saying nothing as she ate the fry and licked her finger clean of the small trail of gravy it left afterwards.

"My name's Katya. Well, technically it's Ekaterina, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Tarasova." She smiled weakly at the mouthful of words. "Obviously, I prefer Katya."

_So she was Russian_, Touma thought. As stupid as it sounded, he had read enough Russian literature to be aware of the naming conventions. Ekaterina was her first name (he assumed Katya was some kind of diminutive), her middle name was a patronymic deriving from her father's first name of Aleksandr, and Tarasova was the feminine form of her family name, which was Tarasov in the masculine. After a moment of recalling the naming customs, he realized she was staring at him expectantly. He cleared his throat.

"Hashiba Touma." He offered. "My first name's-"

"Touma. I know that. I'm not an idiot." So she was as aware of the naming customs of his country as he was of hers. "Tell you what, Touma. I don't have time to talk tonight because Vasha gets off work in fifteen minutes and Philippe gets off in five. But if you come to the diner tomorrow night, just ask to be seated with me and we can-" she paused and gestured into the air. "Talk. About whatever."

"Who are Vasha and Philippe?" He asked, instantly feeling stupid when he realized she was probably talking about the two servers she seemed so close with.

Katya smiled again, and chuckled.

"You'll just have to find out tomorrow." She teased, getting up and taking her things with her as she walked to the front of the diner.

Touma shook his head and laughed. "Fine." He said to the empty space. "Tomorrow it is."

* * *

><p>So there's the first chapter. I already have the second chapter written, and some of the third, I just have to edit them and send them off to my beta for a look-over. I'm not sure what genre this story is yet, if I want romance between Touma and Katya or not (if you want some, tell me so, but I'm still unsure at the moment what direction that will ultimately take, though I do have most of the plot worked out). There'll probably be some moments that could be construed as romantic throughout the story, regardless of whether it'll be full-blown romance or not.<p>

Also, this story is AU, but doesn't necessarily contradict established canon as far as Touma's personal history goes. If I get facts wrong, call me on it, but keep in mind it's not necessarily meant to be canon compliant other than some of Touma's personal history. The next chapter's their first conversation, but not every conversation they have is going to be featured and the story will jump around a bit. Leave me constructive criticism, rave reviews, whatever you want. I look forward to your thoughts!


	2. Learning about each other

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. The Danish Girl is a book by David Ebershoff, which I also don't own. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Two: Learning about Each Other

By womanofwords

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><p>Touma entered the diner the next night. The night shift hostess smiled at him.<p>

"Um… I'm meeting someone here, I don't know if she's here yet…" He blushed fiercely, feeling like a kid on a date even though it wasn't like that. The hostess looked at him as she grabbed a menu.

"Katya already mentioned you'd be by. Right this way, hon." The hostess led him back to a booth where Katya already sat, reading a book. Handing him the menu, she went back to the front.

Sliding into the booth, Touma put the menu aside and glanced at Katya. She either hadn't ordered or her food hadn't arrived. She hadn't looked up at him yet, either. She was too engrossed in her book. He glanced at the cover.

"_The Danish Girl_?" He read out loud.

At the sound of his voice, Katya finally looked up. She put her book aside and smiled at him. She went to speak, but then a server arrived. Touma noticed it was the light-haired boy that Katya seemed close to.

"French fries with gravy and a strawberry lemonade for the lady, and an egg sandwich and coffee for the gentleman." The server placed their food in front of them as Katya stuck her tongue out at the boy's overly formal manner. After he left, Katya looked at Touma.

"Hope you don't mind I ordered for you. According to the servers, you order the same thing every night the way I do, so I figured…" She trailed off.

"It's fine. So, the book?" He asked, gesturing to the book still in her hands.

"Oh, right. _The Danish Girl_. It's this book about this guy and his wife; they're painters in Denmark in the 1920s. But the guy… He wants to be a girl, and his wife supports him and all, and the book explores their marriage and his transformation to the girl he wants to be. It's based on a true story." Katya's dark bangs fell into her face as she explained the novel to him, and she brushed them back without pausing. "I know it's weird, but it's a really sweet love story at the heart of it, even if the reality was different. "

"The real story was different?"

"Yes. The real people, they drifted apart and fell out of love. It's kind of sad." She cleared her throat. "Enough about that. Let's talk about something else."

"Like?"

Katya didn't answer. She simply nibbled at her French fries, appearing deep in thought. Touma reached for his coffee, taking a sip as he waited for Katya to speak. She seemed to like to lead the conversations she had, and that was fine. Touma was quieter and preferred to follow the direction other people set.

Time ticked by as Touma and Katya ate their food, neither one speaking. It was a comfortable silence for the two of them, even if they were essentially strangers to each other. Finally, Katya spoke.

"Why do you come here every night?" she asked. "Don't you have school? You can't be much older than me."

"Why are you here every night?" Touma responded, with a faint smile. "You should have school, too."

"Answering a question with a question, Touma? That's awfully rude. Come on. Tell me why you're here every night. And if you say it's because of me, I'm going to clock you."

Touma laughed, stopping when he saw the serious frown on Katya's face. He sighed, knowing the truth sounded stupid, or at least too ridiculous. But still, he suspected Katya would be able to see if he was lying.

"I can't sleep at night. I don't know, but it's probably just insomnia. I come here to clear my head and get an actual meal that isn't a frozen dinner." he told her.

"What about your parents? I mean, they must know you go missing at night." Katya had stopped frowning and leaned forward, her eyes full of concern. He wondered why she looked that way.

"My parents are divorced. I live with my dad, but he's always busy. I don't think he notices when I leave at all. My mom's… Well, she's always traveling, so I almost never see her. She doesn't really act like a mom, anyways; she treats me more like a friend than as her son." The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but. Touma sighed and took another sip of coffee.

"Hmm." Katya shook her head as if clearing it. "I see. We'll have to talk about that more, when I know you better."

"What about you, Katya? Why do you come here every night?" Touma asked, anxious to get off the subject of his parents.

"It's not every night. Just when Vasha and Philippe both work a night shift. They don't like me to be alone in our apartment. It's not a nice neighborhood, or so they say." She rolled her eyes.

"Who are Vasha and Philippe?" Touma asked. He knew they were probably the two servers Katya was so close with, but he wondered just who they were to her.

"Vasha- his name's really Vladimir but everyone in our family calls him Vasha- and Philippe are my cousins. Vasha's my cousin on my father's side, our fathers are brothers. He's the one with dark hair. Philippe's my cousin on my mother's side. Well, step cousin, really. That's why he doesn't look a thing like me or Vasha. My uncle married his mother a couple years ago. Philippe doesn't know his real father." Katya smiled faintly. "Before you ask, mine and Vasha's parents are in Russia. Philippe's mom and my uncle live in Monaco."

"Why are you here, then?"

A long silence followed Touma's question. Katya looked out the window for a long moment, before looking back into Touma's eyes.

"In Japan? Vasha's parents were living here because my uncle was an assistant to some ambassador before my uncle retired. My mom lived here for a few years while she and my dad were separated, and she took me with her. They eventually got back together, but I stayed here. I think I was about ten at the time she left. My aunt and uncle took me in because they thought my parents weren't… I guess in a mindset to raise children." Katya broke the held gaze and began to play with her napkin. "When I was thirteen, Vasha's dad retired and he and my aunt moved back to Russia to be with the rest of our family, but Vasha wanted to stay here and my aunt and uncle transferred custody of me to him because they didn't want to interrupt my schooling."

Katya stopped fiddling with her napkin and looked up at Touma with a smile again. Touma found himself smiling back. They both had complex family issues, even if he had only touched on his. It took him a moment to realize she hadn't told him the full story.

"How does Philippe figure into this?" he asked.

"Vasha and I were visiting in Russia last year, and so was Philippe. He had a falling out with his mom while he was there. I guess he wanted to know who his biological father was, and she wouldn't tell him, and there was this huge argument. Philippe didn't want to go back to Monaco and no one in Russia would let him stay with them, so Vasha and I offered to let him stay with us. Philippe was already out of school so that wasn't an issue." Katya seemed more relaxed about this part of her story, though she briefly twirled her hair around a finger as she mentioned how no one would let Philippe stay in Russia.

Touma smiled to himself. So most of his story he had envisioned for them was wrong, though a few vague details matched a bit.

"Look at me talking all about myself when this is supposed to be us getting to know each other." Katya said, shaking her head. "So, Touma, tell me. Just how old are you?"

"I'm 15." He told her. Katya smirked at him and Touma raised his eyebrows at her, confused.

"15? You're still a baby! I'm 16." She explained. Touma smiled at her before huffing and pretending to act indignant.

"A baby? I'm probably only a couple months younger than you. I turn 16 in October."

"And it's currently August. Therefore, you're still a baby."

"I'm not a baby; you're just an old woman."

"Old woman! How dare you speak that way to your elders?" With that, she stuck out her tongue at him.

They smiled at each other, growing more relaxed. Touma looked down at his empty plate and took one last sip of his coffee. He looked at Katya apologetically.

"I have to go. Sorry I can't stay, I'd like to talk to you more." He said.

Katya smiled and laid her hand on his for a moment before pulling away, sensing she was being too intimate. She paused for a long time, as if collecting her thoughts, before finally speaking.

"Vasha and Philippe have a night shift on Saturday. Come at around ten, and maybe not eat so fast next time?" she asked.

He nodded as Philippe came by with his check. Taking it, he went and paid for his food. Exiting the diner, he paused at the window where Katya sat and tapped it lightly. She looked out the window, smiling at him, and waved, wagging her fingers in an exaggerated manner as she did so. Touma waved back before heading down the street towards his home, smiling to himself.

* * *

><p>So here's the second chapter. The next chapter will be their second conversation, but the chapter after that will be something a little different. As always, reviews of any type are welcome.<p> 


	3. Getting a little deeper

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Three: Getting a little deeper

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>This time, Katya was waiting in front of the diner for Touma. She touched his arm as he walked over to her, just for a moment, before withdrawing again.<p>

"I figured I'd wait for you out here. That way, we won't be as quick this time." She told him.

Her hair was in disarray from the wind, with some strands almost obscuring her eyes. Touma reached over and tucked the stray hair behind her ears, before realizing what he was doing, how close he was to her, and pulling away.

"Sorry," he muttered, blushing. "That was… A little too close, I guess."

Katya didn't respond, only turned to walk into the diner. Touma followed her, wondering if she was upset about the invasion of her personal space. They didn't speak a word to each other as they sat down. Touma put aside the menu again, but Katya gave it a quick glance before setting hers down and looking Touma in the eye.

"Why were you sorry about the hair thing?" she asked.

"I thought I was being too friendly. We barely know each other." Touma said, blushing again.

"You don't like to get too close to people." It was a statement, not a question, and so he didn't answer her. "Is it social anxiety, or is it just fear?"

Her eyes bore into his, and for the first time he realized they were a dark velvety green-gold. Taking a breath, he tried to look away, but her eyes met his at every turn. Finally, he let out a frustrated growl and stared back at her. To his surprise, she was grinning.

"What?" he growled. "What's so funny?"

"You," She answered with a chuckle. "Has anyone ever really tried to know you, to figure you out? Hmm? I think not. That's why you're so irritated with me."

"Huh? What are you going on about?" Touma wondered briefly if this was what it was like to be interrogated by the police. _No, this is worse, _he decided. _Maybe Katya should be a detective; even if she can't get in people's heads, she can certainly baffle them with enough psychobabble to seem like she is._

"I see how you really are, Touma. And that irritates you. But more than that, it scares the shit out of you."

Katya would have continued, but a waitress arrived at that moment to take their order. After ordering, Touma looked over at her.

"I forgot to ask you something last time." He told her.

"So we're ignoring the last five minutes. Fine, shoot." Katya waved her hand. She didn't seem pleased at the topic change, but Touma knew he was only delaying the inevitable.

"You've lived in Japan for years now, right, Katya?" A nod. "So why do you still have an accent?"

Katya chuckled, and Touma found himself joining in. He knew it was a silly question. He really _had_ forgotten to ask last time, and while it was just as much a ploy to avoid Katya trying to pry him apart, he really was curious. By his own estimation, Katya had been living in Japan at least six years, though he suspected from the context of the last conversation she had been living here slightly longer. Despite this, her accent was thick. Not so thick he couldn't understand her (though he did have trouble at first), but thick enough he knew she wasn't from Japan.

"I don't know. Perhaps because even now, I spend a lot of my time among Russian ambassadors and consuls and the occasional émigré, thanks to most of them knowing my uncle and wanting to make sure me and Vasha and Philippe are okay. It's hard to lose any accent when you're surrounded by people from the old country." She shook her head. "But you're not getting off that easy, Touma."

"Hmm?" Touma leaned back in the booth, trying to appear relaxed. Despite his attempts to appear calm, he began tapping his foot impatiently, in addition to crumbling a napkin into a ball and playing with it. He was failing in his attempt at nonchalance, and he knew it. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands on his lap and forced his foot to stop tapping.

"Are you afraid of people, Touma?" Katya asked him. "I mean, you seem like a loner, yeah, but sometimes it's tough to get a read on you. Do you want to be isolated? I mean, I bet you didn't even have much of a childhood."

_She's rambling_, Touma thought. _And maybe projecting just a little._

Still, she was on to something. Hadn't his mother always said he was like someone much older? The adults around him never treated him like a kid. _Well, those that noticed me._

As for his peers, he was invisible to them. They didn't bother bullying him because he got good grades, or even teasing him about it. Occasionally one or two occasionally asked for help with homework, but that was as far as social interaction went. It wasn't that he minded much, but he did sometimes desire the opportunity to act his age, to joke around with friends and do… well, whatever it was kids his age did. As it was, Katya was probably the first person his age to talk to him besides asking for help with something, or just out of sheer politeness.

Why did Katya talk to him? Did she see something in him that no one else did? She confused him with her questions, baffled him with her childishness and silliness. Everything was funny to her, she laughed easily. She found his age and obvious lack of social experience funny, at least he though she did. She teased him about being younger than her the last time they talked, but it was light, not out of malice. She was friendly to him, for no reason he could ascertain.

"-Touma? Earth to Touma!" Katya was waving a hand in front of his face.

"Hmm? What?" Touma shook his head to clear it. "I'm sorry, I wasn't-"

"Paying attention, I know." She cut him off. "It's fine. No big deal. I was going to ask if you wanted to share dessert with me."

"Huh?"

"You finished your sandwich. Do you often eat blindly when your head's off on another planet?"

"Not funny," he muttered, smiling despite himself.

Katya ignored his attempt at surliness and glanced at the dessert menu.

"Don't tell me you don't have a sweet tooth. Usually people who eat bland food the way you do have a secret sweet tooth. It just takes the proper dessert." she said, flipping through the menu.

"Bland?"

"Don't tell me those egg sandwiches are full of flavor. Foodies wouldn't be caught dead eating that thing you call a sandwich. It's not food, it's what food eats." Katya was less animated than usual as she stated this, discussing it as though it was a universal fact everyone agreed on.

"Foodies?" Touma repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm thinking a banana split. Or maybe a piece of cheesecake." Katya was obviously ignoring him again. "Oh, I've got it! Strawberry shortcake!"

"Katya…"

"No buts, Touma. We are sharing strawberry shortcake and that is final."

"I'm not arguing about that, old woman."

"Call me 'old woman' again and I'll clock you. What is it?"

"Why are you so… nice to me?"

Touma couldn't figure it out. Katya seemed like a girl who had a lot of friends. Maybe she just didn't want to eat alone at night, and decided a strange boy like him was better than nothing? But he knew her cousins spent their breaks with her, the other servers all interacted with her and were exceedingly friendly, and she always had a book or five with her. So it wasn't all just desperation. Touma scolded himself. _You're overthinking things_, he told himself. _Maybe she wants to be friends with you, you idiot._

"What, you think because you're socially awkward and let me do all the talking that I'll get bored?" she laughed. "Are you really that afraid of friendship, Hashiba Touma?"

"Friendship?" he echoed.

"Well, Touma, I hardly know you well enough to have a torrid love affair with you."

"That's… That's not what I meant." Despite himself, Touma began to blush. He could barely fathom friendship at this point; a romantic relationship was out of the question. _Besides, Katya's so far out of my league it's not funny_, he thought with a shake of his head.

"Of course not. I'm just teasing you, Touma." Katya said with a laugh, lightly tapping his nose with her index finger.

She handed him the dessert menu.

"My vote's for strawberry shortcake. Look it over, though. And if you say you're not hungry, you're lying." Katya told him, looking mock-angry and wagging a finger at him.

Despite himself (and he noted he was doing a lot of things despite himself, lately), Touma laughed and began to look over the menu.

_I guess it's not so bad, having a friend like this_, he thought.

* * *

><p>Author's note: That's another chapter down the hole. Next chapter's a little different. I'm going to move them out of the diner setting a little, but I'm going to try and keep the same tone (for a little while, anyway; then it's off to the juicer parts of the plot). Leave me reviews, I'd love to hear from you and see where you think this is going (and of course, any ideas you might have are welcome, too)!<p> 


	4. The Cousins and A Few Mixed Messages

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Four: Meeting the Cousins and a Few Mixed Messages

By womanofwords

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><p>Touma glanced once again at the piece of paper in his hand. The last thing he wanted to do was get lost on the way to Katya's apartment. He was a nervous wreck as it was at the idea of being there. <em>I can't believe Katya talked me into this<em>, he thought. Touma's thoughts drifted to just how he had gotten in this mess, anyway.

_Touma took one last bite of strawberry shortcake. Putting his spoon down, he glanced at Katya._  
>"<em>So when will I see you again?" he asked, then he realized just how that might have sounded. "I mean, when are we going to hang out again?"<em>  
>"<em>That's the problem," Katya said. "Philippe and Vasha don't have a night shift again for at least two weeks."She frowned, fiddling with a napkin.<em>  
>"<em>So come to the diner by yourself." Touma suggested. It seemed so obvious to him. "Unless there's a problem?"<em>  
>"<em>A girl like me walking around by myself this late at night? Brilliant, Touma. Yeah, no." Then her eyes lit up. "You could always come to my place. My cousins won't mind."<em>  
>"<em>Didn't you say it's in a bad neighborhood?" Touma was sure she meant it in sarcasm when she mentioned it, but it wasn't the idea of a bad neighborhood putting him off. It was the idea of being out of his comfort zone. Touma was okay meeting Katya at the diner, but the idea of going somewhere else filled him with dread that he couldn't quite understand.<em>  
>"<em>So stay the night. You said your parents don't notice when you leave, right?"<em>  
>"<em>My dad."<em>  
>"<em>Your dad, whatever. So put your money where your mouth is."<em>  
>"<em>Huh?"<em>  
>"<em>I'm saying, stay the night with me and my cousins, if you'd like. For someone so smart, you don't have a clue sometimes."<em>  
>"<em>Won't your cousins…" Touma gestured into the air.<em>  
>"<em>What, be pissed I have a guy over? I've told them about you, Touma. They're cool with it. They know you won't try anything." Katya grinned at him and winked. Touma blushed again.<em>  
>"<em>That's… That's not what I meant."<em>  
>"<em>Not exactly what you meant, but you're worried my cousins will think something untoward is going on. Trust me, even if you and I were together like that, my cousins wouldn't care much. Vasha and Philippe aren't the overprotective type."<br>Touma fell silent. Katya patted his hand gently taking out a pen and a piece of paper and writing something down._  
>"<em>Here's my address. Come over if you want." She handed him the paper. "I gotta go, Touma. Have a nice night and see you when I see you."<br>With that, Katya walked away before Touma had a chance to say anything else._

That had been five nights ago, and after much agonizing, Touma found himself going to Katya's apartment, or trying to, anyway. He had finally found the street and was trying to discern which apartment building was Katya's, since most of them didn't have street numbers posted.

"Hey, dude! Over here!" A voice called out.

It took Touma a second to realize the voice was calling to him. He looked up and saw Katya's dark-haired cousin leaning over the porch railing of an apartment building Touma had already passed. Touma recalled the cousin's name as Vladimir, but remembered that Katya called him Vasha.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He called, jogging down to the building. "There are no street numbers, I was confused."

Vasha/Vladimir let out a hearty laugh and clapped Touma on the back. Touma lost his breath and stumbled for a second; Katya's cousin had a lot of strength.

"You're alright, kid, you're okay," Vasha said, helping Touma with his balance. "The name's Vasha, kid. If you got in as good as you have with Katya, you've earned the right to call me that."

"Huh?" Touma mumbled, looking confused. Did Vasha think he was Katya's boyfriend or something? "We're not… I mean, Katya and me…"

"Chill, kid. I meant she considers you a good friend." Vasha's eyes twinkled as he chuckled. "Not like that."

Touma nodded as Vasha muttered something in Russian almost under his breath. Touma decided it was wise not to ask what it was.

"So, let's go. Onward. We live on the sixth floor. The elevator's one of those old pieces of shit from back in the dark ages, but it might be working tonight." Vasha told him as they headed inside.

Touma noted that the lobby of the apartment building was clean, if dimly lit. The only thing dirty was the dusty red carpet at his feet. Unlike Touma's own apartment building (which was really more of a mansion in comparison to this, Touma thought), there was no doorman or anyone at the lobby desk. There were two hallways leading out of the lobby, one to the left and one to the right. The hallways were narrow and had no real lighting to speak of, save a bare bulb at each hallway entrance.

Vasha pressed the call button on the elevator. Touma listened as the elevator creaked and groaned loudly.

"Maybe we should take the stairs," He muttered. "I'd like to not die tonight."

Vasha chuckled at him again. Touma noted with some level of amusement that this entire family probably found him funny, in a socially awkward sort of way.

"The elevator will be fine," Vasha told him. "It hasn't killed anyone."

"Yet."

"You have a very dry sense of humor, Touma," Vasha said as the elevator finally made it to the lobby and they got in. "No wonder Katya likes you."

"Katya likes me because I don't talk much."

"Ha! Maybe you're more alike than you think." Vasha said finally as the elevator reached the sixth floor.

Touma followed Vasha down the hallway to the right. The apartment was at the end of the hallway, Vasha was telling him, and it was sort of dark, so Touma had better watch his step. Touma stumbled over a few dips in the floor as Vasha kept talking, about how the landlord was a lazy bum and nothing ever got fixed. Finally, they reached the apartment and Vasha opened the door.

There was a small hallway that led to the living room on the left and the tiny kitchen on the right. Touma peered his head into the living room, where he noted Katya and her other cousin Philippe were watching a movie on the television. Katya looked up from the couch, smiling at Touma.

"Touma! Glad you made it. Did you find the place okay?" she asked, leaping up from the couch and giving him a small hug before withdrawing.

"Vasha was outside. I had no trouble once I saw him." He told her, blushing from the hug.

"Yeah, he sits outside on the nights he doesn't work. Says he likes to listen to the sounds or something." Katya rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. "You hungry? We have some pelmeni and shchi left over from dinner."

"Huh?" Touma must have looked confused, because Katya laughed and waved him over into the kitchen. He walked over to stand next to Katya.

"Pelmeni are dumplings. I used my mother's recipe to make them, so they have beef, mutton and pork in them. Shchi is soup. It's like borscht, but with cabbage instead of beets. We made it with lamb this time." Katya told him as she handed him one of the dumplings. "Eat, you look starved."

Touma took the ear-shaped dumpling and chewed it slowly. He could taste the meats, but there was also the strong taste of onion with a slight touch of black pepper. It tasted very rich to him, and he nearly gagged, not out of disgust but because the food had a fuller flavor than that he was used to. He managed to eat the dumpling and smiled at Katya.

"Thank you, but I think I'll pass on the dumplings. How's the soup?" he asked.

Katya smiled and got out a bowl for him. As she ladled the soup in, she murmured something in Russian to Vasha. Whatever she said, it made Vasha laugh again.

"Aunt Yelena would be proud," Vasha told her. Then he said the rest in Russian. Touma could only catch the word 'pelmeni,' so he assumed it was something about the dumplings.

Katya handed Touma a small bowl of soup as Vasha went to the living room. She led Touma to a small kitchen table, where he ate the soup (which went down a lot easier than the dumpling, if only because it was mostly liquid) as Katya told him about her family.

She was an only child, like Touma was. Her parents had married when her mother was quite young, just out of school, and her father was much older. Apparently, her father and uncles had all married relatively late in life, except for Vasha's father.

"It seems to be a pattern that the Tarasov men marry when they are much older. Most of them married no earlier than forty, except Uncle Ivan, who was nineteen. My father was forty-nine when he married my mother, and almost sixty years old when I was born." Katya said, tossing her long dark hair over her shoulder. "Didn't your parents have a large age gap, Touma?"

"Not that large. Only a decade, give or take a few years. Not like your parents. Your father must have started courting your mother before she hit puberty." He teased her.

Katya stuck her tongue out at Touma before they both starting laughing. Then Katya sat up and began tugging on Touma's hand.

"C'mon, let's go sit with Vasha and Philippe." She pulled him up and dragged him to the living room.

Vasha nodded at Katya and Touma as the two of them sat together on one of the couches. Philippe, who was sitting on the other couch, murmured a soft greeting. Katya apparently took this as an opportunity to introduce Touma.

"Touma, this is my step cousin, Philippe Landry. Philippe, this is my friend, Hashiba Touma. Be nice to him, Philippe." Touma noted the heavy sarcasm in the last sentence, and guessed that Philippe was probably shy and quiet and that Katya was razzing her cousin a little bit.

"Of course, cousin. I assume Hashiba is your last name, then?" Philippe asked him. Touma nodded.

"So Katya tells me you're from Monaco." Touma said to Philippe.

"My mother is. I suspect my biological father's from France as opposed to Monaco, but I have no way of confirming it. I live wherever I lay my head at night." Philippe told him.

For a moment, Touma wondered if they had drifted into uncomfortable territory, but Philippe smiled and continued to talk.

"Ekaterina-" Philippe started to speak before Katya cut him off.

"Katya, damn you." Katya frowned at the use of her full name. "No one calls me Ekaterina anymore."

"Unless you're in trouble." Vasha interjected.

"Shut up, _Vladimir_." Katya responded.

Vasha narrowed his eyes and sat up, though Touma sensed he was probably faking any anger. Still, Touma put some distance between himself and Katya.

"Oh, that's it." Vasha playfully growled, and launched himself at Katya.

The two of them play-fought, shouting at each other in Russian (Touma suspected that they were insulting each other's mothers and that Katya was questioning Vasha's manhood). Philippe and Touma looked at each other and grinned, barely able to keep from laughter.

After Vasha had exhausted himself, he rolled away back to his chair while Katya moved over next to Touma again. She laid her head on his shoulder, and Touma felt himself freeze up awkwardly.

"So, Touma, as I was saying before these two oafs interrupted me-" Philippe said. "Katya mentioned your father is some sort of researcher?"

"Yes, he is. He's a university researcher in Kyoto."

"In?"

"Huh?" Touma looked up at Philippe, confused. Touma's mind was still dwelling on the fact that Katya was sitting so close to him. It was mildly embarrassing.

"What does he research?" Philippe asked, looking over at Katya and frowning. As if he had given her some kind of secret signal, Katya sat up and moved away from Touma a little, though her body still touched his a bit.

"Oh. He researches physics and astronomy. It's very time consuming, he hardly ever leaves his lab." Touma heard himself making the old excuse and scolded himself for it. He felt like he was apologizing to these people for invading their space and he supposed that, in a way, he was. He didn't want to be some kind of charity case.

"That's no excuse for not spending time with your kid." Philippe said. Touma noticed Philippe's eyes had darkened somewhat at this, and he wondered if the idea of parents not spending time with their children was some kind of sore spot for Philippe. _Of course it probably is, you idiot, _Touma thought to himself. Touma may not have known Philippe's full family history, but given what he did know, Philippe's reaction sort of made sense.

Katya seemed to sense a tension in the air and quickly changed the topic, asking Touma about school and mentioning to her cousins how smart Touma was. The night went on as they discussed more trivial things, before Vasha finally rose from his chair.

"It's almost two in the morning and I have a nine o'clock shift tomorrow," he said. " 'Night, guys. Touma, you staying the night?"

"I hadn't thought about it," Touma said.

"Yes, he is, Vasha," Katya said at the same time.

"Katya…" Touma murmured.

"Touma, it's late, and the neighborhood is bad," Katya replied, the smile on her face belying the seriousness of her words. "You're staying."

"That's why we have a couch, Touma." Philippe said, obviously backing his cousin up.

"Fine." Touma knew it was pointless to argue with Katya, and the presence of her cousins made it more so. It was better to just give in.

"Good." Vasha said, his tone indicating the matter was closed. "Philippe, don't stay up too late. When do you have to be in?"

"Noon, but I'll be to bed shortly; I just have to take a shower." Philippe rose from his couch and made his way to the bathroom. Vasha nodded and headed out of the living room.

The room was now empty except for Katya and Touma. Katya smiled at Touma.

"I should be getting to bed, too." She said to him. "So, did you like them? Vasha and Philippe?"

"They're nice people," Touma said. "Vasha's kind of loud."

Katya nodded, and laid her head back on Touma's shoulder again.

"Thank you for coming tonight, Touma. I was wondering when you'd show up." She said softly.

Touma shifted slightly in his seat. He felt uncomfortable again, like Katya was too close. But at the same time, he kind of liked it, too.

"Shouldn't you be going to bed?" he whispered.

Katya nodded and sat up again. Leaning over, she kissed Touma lightly on the cheek.

" 'Night, Touma." She murmured, getting up and turning off the light as she went.

Touma lay back on the couch with a sigh. He liked being here, liked hanging out with Katya and her cousins. But at the same time, he was so confused. Katya was an expert at sending messages Touma couldn't even begin to decipher.

_I'll talk to her about it in the morning_, he thought, shifting and trying to make himself more comfortable on the couch. He already knew he wouldn't get much sleep, but with all the thoughts running through his head, it would be a miracle if he got to sleep at all.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Yeah, this was a long one. And yes, I finally bit the bullet and decided on romance, or at least romantic leanings between Touma and Katya. We'll see how that goes, but I changed the genre accordingly. I might change the rating eventually, as well.<p>

All right, that's it. Leave me reviews of any kind if you'd like, I'd love to hear what you think, even if you hate my story.


	5. The Deal Made Over Coffee

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Five: The Deal Made Over Coffee

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>By the time Touma got up, Philippe was on his way out the door.<p>

"Play nice, you two! Clean up any messes you make!" he heard Philippe call out, and the door shut soon after.

Touma sat up and looked around. Sometime in the night, someone had covered him with an afghan. Pushing it aside, he stood up and stretched. He heard noises emanating from the kitchen. _Must be Katya making breakfast_, he thought. He walked into the tiny kitchen, sitting at the table. Katya was standing at the counter when Touma walked in, pouring coffee and putting together breakfast. She looked over at him, smiled, and handed him a plate.

Touma took the plate and examined it. It was nothing out of the ordinary: eggs, sausage, and some kind of dark toasted bread with butter and jam on it. He took a bite of the sausage first, and when that didn't make him gag, he began to eat the rest.

"Thank you," he murmured. Katya handed him a cup of coffee and sat next to him.

"Not a problem. I thought you said you weren't usually so coherent in the morning," she said as she began eating her own breakfast.

Touma shrugged. He didn't understand it, either. Usually he was stumbling around and grunting before his standard three cups of coffee in the morning. Taking a bite of the toast (which he determined to be rye), he looked over at Katya. Her hair was disheveled, and she was wearing a set of wrinkled pajamas. That feeling came over him again, like he was intruding on her personal space. It was like she was naked in front of him, and he found himself blushing at the thought of _that_.

At the same time, it was comfortable. He had been alone for a long time, with his parents too focused on their own lives to pay him much mind. Sharing a meal with anyone like this was almost alien to him, but the simple ease and relaxation that Katya exuded as she shared this with him made him feel needed, included, and a million other things he couldn't name but felt alien to him.

Touma and Katya ate the rest of their meal in silence. Katya collected the breakfast dishes and put them in the sink, before returning with fresh coffee for the both of them. Touma accepted the cup, sipping the coffee and trying to put his thoughts together.

He wanted to talk to Katya about her behavior last night. Touma simply wanted to know just what she was doing. Katya was sending a signal that confused him. He wasn't sure if he wanted friendship or something else. Could he even offer her anything else, as clueless and inexperienced as he was?

"Katya?" Katya looked up at him as he spoke. "About last night-"

"Yes, Touma? What is it?" she asked.

"Are you… Are we… I…" Touma was stumbling over his words again. "You were acting odd last night and I…"

"Odd? How so?" Katya was smiling now, her eyes glittering.

"I'm confused. One minute, you're all…I don't know!" he cried out, slamming his fist on the table.

Katya raised an eyebrow but didn't move. Once Touma had calmed himself, she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry for confusing you, Touma. I understand that you don't have much social interaction, and I must be sending all kinds of signals that confuse you."

"Yes," Touma said. "Yes, that's it. It feels… too romantic to me."

"Do you want me to stop?"

Katya's question perplexed Touma, for multiple reasons. Did he want her to stop? Did he want her to be more than his friend? He was confused. He knew that he desired social interaction, and he desired it with Katya, but he was unsure on what terms. He didn't know where to draw the line; he didn't know what boundaries to set between them. The touchy-feely stuff was odd, but comforting, and it was nice, and he did kind of want that. At the same time, he didn't know if that was too much for him to deal with.

"I don't know." He answered finally. "I don't know what I want."

Katya nodded and stirred her coffee. She appeared to be thinking.

"That's a fair answer," She told him. "How about a compromise?"

"How do you reach a compromise on something like this?" Touma asked.

Katya giggled and tapped his nose with her index finger, the same way she had in the diner. _My naiveté is amusing her again_, he thought. _I can't tell if that's good or not._

"Tell you what, Touma. We'll make a deal." Katya told him. "Most of the time, we'll be friends. We'll hang out, and talk about our lives, and go to movies, and whatever. But when both of us are comfortable with it, we can do other stuff. That romantic stuff."

"So what does that make us? Are we dating?" he asked. He was pretty sure she basically just described dating to him. He wasn't _that _clueless.

Katya shook her head and took another sip of coffee.

"Think of it this way, Touma. You're too shy for dating right now, right?" He nodded. "So think of me as your… Practice run. I can teach you how to be a good boyfriend, give you feedback, whatever. But we'll be friends so you don't have any pressure on you. That way, when you do find a girl, you'll have some practice and not be so awkward like you are now."

"What does that make us?" Touma asked. The concept she presented to him was so odd. He understood what she was saying overall, but he didn't want to wreck whatever he and Katya were over this.

"Friends, Touma. We're friends." Katya told him, rolling her eyes as if exasperated he wasn't grasping the concept.

Touma thought about it for a long while. Something about it sounded off to him, but he and Katya _were _friends, and the idea of getting practice so he wouldn't be so weird when he did start dating did appeal to him. Katya had been helpful so far, what could go wrong?

"Okay," he said, and Katya smiled at him. He found himself smiling back.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Now the real fun begins, I suppose. I hope you guys are enjoying this story, and feel free to leave me reviews, I'd love to hear from you.<p> 


	6. Interlude

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Six: Interlude

By womanofwords

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><p>The next three weeks passed uneventfully, as August gave way to September. Touma went over to Katya's apartment more frequently, but nothing like that first night happened again. They were back to being friends again, without that odd energy Touma felt had been hanging over them. On one hand, it was a welcome relief. On the other, he had no idea how their agreement was actually supposed to work. Was he supposed to ask her if they could switch to romantic mode, or whatever Katya wanted to call it? Or was he supposed to just do… something, and if so, what was he supposed to do?<p>

It drove him crazy thinking about it, and he tried putting it out of his mind. Maybe Katya would give him some kind of signal, some sort of sign, and he would know what to do. In the meantime, he would wait.

He made friends with Vasha and Philippe very easily as he spent more time at their apartment. While Vasha and Touma shared no common interests, they respected each other's intellect. Touma learned Vasha was studying political science through college correspondence courses, and that Vasha hoped to follow in his father's footsteps in the world of international diplomacy. The two of them began to discuss politics, and while Touma himself had no political leanings, Vasha leaned to a leftist world view, though he stopped short of socialism ("It nearly ruined Russia," Vasha would tell Touma). Touma enjoyed talking about the state of the world with Vasha. It helped him understand politics, but it also helped him understand people. _Granted it's a more cynical view of people, but at least I'm learning_, Touma thought ruefully to himself.

Philippe was even more shy and quiet than Touma himself was, but the two got along well after they discovered a mutual interest in chess. They played the game often, and were evenly matched, much to Touma's surprise. Philippe was also a voracious reader, the same way Katya was, and Touma would often have discussions with the two of them about whatever one of them happened to be reading at the time.

Touma wasn't sure if it was Philippe or Katya who got him to start reading poetry. He was pretty certain it was Philippe's fault the whole mess got started; Philippe had began to recite "Romance" by Edgar Allan Poe one night out of nowhere and told Touma he needed to broaden his soul when Touma failed to recognize the poem. But it was Katya who told him that if he knew at least five romantic-sounding poems by heart, girls would swoon. Touma supposed that, in the end, his interest in poetry was the result of a tag team effort.

After that, Touma's interest in poetry snowballed. He started reading Khalil Gibran first, before moving on to John Keats, Walt Whitman, and Langston Hughes. Soon, he was picking up cheap poetry books at used bookstores, weather-beaten and smelling like dust and dry paper. He read poems by both famous and little-known poets alike, poems that were simple and easy and poems that were so vague and whose construction was so sprawled he had a hard time grasping what they were even about.

After much absorption of material, Touma decided his favorite poet was Pablo Neruda, and he began to memorize Neruda's poems. The memorization was less about following Katya's advice and more about wanting to absorb the feel of the poems fully, to understand their depth of emotion. Touma liked the way Neruda didn't stick to one topic, and felt as though by reading every one of Neruda's works, he was looking into the man's life.

Touma wondered if his affinity for Neruda's work was a desire to broaden his life experiences. He knew his own life was nothing to write about, that he had never experienced anything that could inspire a powerful poem, or even a tepid one. He wanted something to write about, something powerful that inspired writing of serious emotional depth.

He wondered if he would ever have that.

* * *

><p>Author's note: This one feels even more different than previous chapters. I suppose I wanted to focus on Touma's personal growth a bit, and explore his feelings about everything. That, and my beta challenged me to write a chapter with minimal dialogue. It's also much shorter, a sort of calm before the storm, you might say.<p>

The next chapter makes a return to the diner, but also marks the start of something else (no, not a full-fledged romantic relationship between Katya and Touma. If that happens, it won't be till much, much later). As always, reviews of any sort are welcome.


	7. Taking Charge

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Seven: Taking Charge

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>Katya finally told Touma that Vasha and Philippe had a night shift about four weeks after Touma started visiting their apartment. While it was made clear Touma could continue visiting the apartment, he was glad to have an excuse to go back to the diner. The more time he spent at the apartment, the more anxious he felt, because Katya still hadn't made any kind of move and it made him uneasy. At least at the diner, the lack of any… <em>whatever<em> it had been made sense.

Touma still had no idea what to do, obviously. It killed him not to know, and the more he thought about it, the more he thought maybe he should make a move. _After all, I'm the one who needs practice, why shouldn't I make a move on her, _he thought. _The worst she can do is tell me no._

But it was the idea of rejection that scared him and kept him at bay. Touma didn't want to be rejected by Katya, even if it was only so she could give him feedback or whatever she had said it was about. He _still _didn't understand that, anyway. He was pretty sure he had been roped into dating her, that she used some kind of trickery on him. Not that he minded, because Katya _was_ pretty much his kind of girl…

_SHUT UP BRAIN!_ Touma commanded himself as he stepped into the diner. He knew that thinking about it would probably give him a stroke or an aneurysm or something, and then he'd be dead and cursing himself for not making _some_ kind of move.

_Fuck it, I'll make a move. But what?_

That question floated through his mind as he sat in a booth waiting for Katya. He had decided to head there early this time, and to wait for her as she had waited for him before. It seemed only fair. That and it gave him time to think of a game plan.

_Maybe I should just kiss her… GOD NO, SHE'LL FLAY YOU ALIVE… Shut up brain! But no, it IS a bad idea… She'll probably kick my ass… But how is that different from any other time, really? Okay okay, maybe I won't kiss her right away… Maybe I should ask her to take a walk with me after we eat, and kiss her then? But this late at night? Well, a late night walk is kind of romantic… But it is kind of late at night, and there might be weirdoes or murderers out here… Then I would die for real… BUT AT LEAST YOU MADE A MOVE….Now you want to make a move, brain? God, I'm more confusing than Katya is… Oh, hell. I'll do it._

Nervous but satisfied, Touma glanced at the clock to see he had been lost in his thoughts for almost half an hour. Katya would be showing up soon with her cousins. At least none of the servers had bugged him for his order. It was probably understood by now that he and Katya ate together, and they always ordered the same things, anyway.

The door to the diner opened, and Touma saw Katya enter, followed by Philippe and Vasha. The boys went to clock in, while Katya spotted Touma in his booth and went to join him. Once she was situated in the booth, she smiled at him and took his hand. Touma smiled back, but gently withdrew his hand from her hold, knowing he'd probably lose his nerve if Katya kept holding his hand.

The usual orders were brought out to them, but Touma found that he was too anxious to eat, and ignored his sandwich in favor of sipping his coffee and staring at Katya. He almost found himself laughing when he realized that staring at her so openly like he was now usually got him in trouble with her, but Katya seemed not to notice. She ate, talking occasionally, either not noticing or not caring that Touma was staring at her. She seemed so… nonchalant, Touma noted.

He almost envied her, and wondered how she could be that way. Wasn't she nervous like he was? _Of course not_, he thought. Katya was worldlier than he was; she had probably been out with plenty of boys before, boys who weren't nervous at all, not like he was, and those boys who came before him had probably known what to do… and something deep inside Touma seethed for reasons he couldn't place.

Katya was waving a hand in front of his face again. _I need to stop spacing out_, Touma thought, shaking his head.

"You okay, Touma?" Katya asked him. "You haven't eaten."

Touma nodded, pushing his sandwich aside. He smiled at her, though he knew his smile wasn't genuine, and he knew she could probably tell what was on his mind.

"Just not hungry. It's not food, anyway, it's what food eats," he joked, using Katya's own words from before. "Listen, I was wondering…"

"Yes?" Was Katya nervous? Did he imagine she was to make himself feel better? Or was she worried about him? He couldn't discern from her tone. Maybe there was no tone at all, and he was just driving himself crazy… _STOP IT AND ASK, YOU MORON, _he told himself.

"I was wondering… after you finish eating…. Maybe you want to…takeawalkwithme?" he asked, feeling the wind was being knocked out of him.

"Pardon? Could you repeat that last part? Didn't quite catch it." Katya was smirking at him… _Damn her, she's probably enjoying my discomfort._

"Take a walk with me." To his own surprise, he found himself telling her now rather than asking. Even more surprising was the fact Katya kept smiling.

"Okay. Let me finish my lemonade and we'll go." Katya told him, that smile never leaving her face.

_Why's she smiling like that? Is she smirking, or is she genuinely… JESUS CHRIST STOP OVERANALYZING GOOD GOD…Okay, okay, shut up, brain. Stopping all conscious thought about Katya now… Or maybe now… GOD DAMN IT TOUMA YOUR BRAIN IS LEAVING FOR THE NEXT HOUR, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, JESUS._

After Katya finished her lemonade and they paid for their meal, Touma took Katya's hand and they left the diner together (later, he would justify the whole hand holding thing as a result of being on autopilot thanks to his brain's mutiny). Every time he glanced over at her before they finally started walking, Katya had that dumb smile on her face.

"There's a park about two blocks from here," Katya told him. "Want to go there?"

"Won't it be dangerous?" Touma asked. "I mean, wouldn't a park late at night be a prime place for a nutcase to be hanging out?"

Katya lightly, almost playfully, gave his shoulder a sort of headbutt and giggled. Touma frowned, wondering what was so funny.

"It'll be fine. There's this park bench there, we can sit and talk." She told him.

Touma found himself thinking he was kind of tired of talking, honestly, but he had no idea what else they could do this late at night in public. His mind drifted to what they could do in private, but he shook his head to clear it and chided himself for that kind of thought. _I'm becoming some kind of pervert, _he thought.

The two of them found the park bench and sat down together, still holding hands. Touma gazed at the sky and pondered his next move, only half-hearing Katya's attempt at conversation. He looked at Katya and began to study her. As he gazed at her, he found himself realizing he had never studied her appearance with any kind of depth before, and he found himself doing so at that very moment.

Her hair was long, thick and wavy when it hung loose as it did now; she had bangs that fell in her eyes that she would tuck behind her ears, but they always fell back. Her eyes were a dark gold-green color, and they shone brightly, though he supposed he only thought they did because shining eyes matched her bubbly personality perfectly. Her skin was pale, but when the wind blew too hard or she was embarrassed or too energetic, her cheeks flushed almost bright red. Her face was full and maybe a shade too round, but it matched her body well. Her body was almost as lush, with pronounced hips and a full waist. Her chest (though he'd never admit to staring) was less obvious, but not exactly small, either.

But it was her lips he found himself gazing at the most. Her lips were thin, and it was her lips he focused on the most right now. They were a pale red-pink, and she licked them when she was nervous or excited. _Maybe that was why they looked so chapped_, he thought. Still, he wondered if they were soft like he heard a girl's lips were supposed to be.

He didn't realize he was kissing her till it was almost over. Perhaps it was best he didn't, because Touma knew if he had been aware of it, he would have been obsessing how stupid things like if his hands were in the right places, if he was applying too much pressure to the kiss, if he should tilt his head and countless other dumb things he would undoubtedly worry about if he were actually thinking about it.

Touma's body and mind moved on autopilot, and as he became aware of the kiss, he found himself calming down considerably. The kiss was soft, gentle, and chaste; neither one taking the kiss farther than the gentle touch of lips on lips. Katya's hands were twined in his hair, and her body was relaxed and he found himself wondering if the only thing keeping her on her feet was the way Touma was gripping her to him, like he was afraid she would run away if his hold loosened.

Katya finally pulled away from him, and though it hadn't been a particularly passionate kiss, Touma found himself lightly panting for breath. As if in disbelief at the events, he lightly brought a hand to his mouth, tracing his lips with a finger, before taking the same finger and tracing Katya's lips, like he was trying to recall the feel of the kiss and burning even a trace of the thought of it to touch memory.

And Katya _laughed._ But Touma knew she wasn't making fun of him; the laugh seemed more out of happiness and maybe a little bit of relief rather than malice. She threw her arms around his neck and touched her forehead to his. They didn't kiss again, but stared into each other's eyes in silence. Touma found himself still trying to figure out what it all meant.

"You're a good kisser, Touma. Not bad for your first time." Katya smirked again as she pulled away from him and began to walk away.

Touma stared at her, dumbfounded at how it seemed both everything and nothing had changed, before shaking his head and running to catch up with her.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Told you something would happen. Sorry this chapter took so long, I just got a new job and I'm in training, which is taking a long time. Next chapter is going to focus on Touma's life away from Katya: his family life and his social life other than Katya. The other troopers will appear, but keep in mind this story's AU, guys, so it's not canon compliant.<p> 


	8. Away From Her

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Eight: Away From Her

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>Touma hadn't expected the major kick to the ass (metaphorically speaking) that Katya gave him after the whole kiss episode. She had framed it as preparing him for the next step in what she called his "social development," but he wondered if her plan was simply just to get him separated from her so he could think more. Think more about what, he wasn't sure.<p>

"_You need more friends, Touma." Katya said to him as they sat outside the diner. "I can only help you so much."_  
>"<em>Huh?" Touma must have looked at confused at Katya's sudden shift in focus. Katya giggled and tapped his nose with her index finger, and Touma wondered if she was going to do that every time she confused him.<em>  
>"<em>This is your girlfriend practice run, right?" Touma nodded. "But you can never really be a good boyfriend if the only social interaction you have is with a girlfriend."<em>  
>"<em>Huh?"<em>  
>"<em>You need a life, dummy." Katya rolled her eyes like it was supposed to be obvious. It probably was to most people, Touma figured; then again, Touma wasn't most people.<em>  
>"<em>I have a life. With you." Touma began blushing the instant he said it. He knew what <em>_that__ sounded like. From the faint smile (and Touma could almost swear she was blushing, too) on her face, so did Katya._  
>"<em>Remember that line, Touma. Someday you'll make a woman very happy with it." she told him, bringing a hand to one of her eyes to rub it. "But seriously, you need a social life outside me. I know you have acquaintances. That Shuu kid you told me about, you're friends with him, aren't you?"<em>  
>"<em>Kind of," Touma mumbled. "I've known him since we were kids."<em>  
>"<em>Hang out with him and his friends. Consider it the next step in your social development." As Touma went to speak, Katya brought a finger to his mouth to shush him. "No arguing. Even if they don't become friends with you, at least you tried and you gained some insight, which you can use when you try again with some other group or person."<br>Arguing with Katya was pointless, and Touma knew it. How many times had she been right about… well, everything? Any flaw he attempted to point out, Katya turned it into an asset. It was better to go along with it, even if the whole attempt blew up in his face._  
>"<em>Fine. I'll talk to him, I guess." Touma told her. "But when can I see you again?"<em>  
>"<em>Until you make an attempt at a social life for at least a month, even if it's only hanging out with Shuu and whatever friends he has till they tell you to get lost, we're only talking on the phone."<em>  
>"<em>That's not fair!" Touma couldn't believe Katya. Other than the short period of time where he agonized over going to her apartment, they had seen every other nearly every day in the almost two months they had known each other.<em>  
>"<em>Just for that…" Katya's eyes glinted, and for a moment, Touma was convinced she was about to tell him to get lost for good, and his breath caught in his chest as he prepared to beg her not to leave him. "You have to try and interact with your father, too."<em>  
>"<em>Huh?"<em>  
>"<em>I know he's away in his lab a lot, but when you do see him, ask about his research or something. And actually pay attention and look interested, even if you don't understand it. Ask questions, I'm sure he'll be happy to answer them." Katya gave him a smile that he couldn't understand. "At least you still <em>_live__ with your father, Touma; you can still have some kind of connection. Just… try, okay? For me."  
>Touma had a feeling Katya was projecting something again like she had during their second conversation, and wondered just what the state of her family affairs was. He had picked up pieces of it here and there, but nothing to form a complete story. Touma made a mental note to consult Vasha and maybe Philippe as well about the subject, and turned his mind back to the task at hand.<em>  
>"<em>Fine. I'll talk to my dad. <em>_Once__. And I'll try to get Shuu to introduce me to people. But you and I have to start meeting up again in two weeks whether I succeed at either of those or not."  
>Katya seemed agreeable to the compromise and they shook on it.<em>

Touma tried talking to his father first. It failed, miserably. Touma had done as Katya asked and asked his father to explain his research, and while Touma's father tried to explain it and seemed happy his son took an interest, it was obvious he was frustrated when Touma asked him to explain every little concept and didn't even understand the basics of the research. Still, he had tried, and for all he knew, his father had enjoyed their talk, regardless of the frustration. That step completed, he tried to figure out the next item on Katya's list.

While he had agreed to the whole being social thing, Touma had no real idea how to go about it. He supposed talking to Shuu was a good start. That part was easy enough, and Shuu readily agreed to introduce Touma to his group of friends the next day. As Shuu and Touma were walking to one of Shuu's friend's places, Shuu looked over at Touma and began to talk to him.

"What took you so long? Studying too much?" Shuu asked him, teasing him about his bookishness. Touma knew explaining about how Katya was making him probably wasn't a good idea, that Shuu would probably rib him some about that, so he refrained from the truth.

"Just want to hang out with some new people, y'know?" That was true enough, without the long-winded explanation of why.

"What, the Russians tell you to go away?"

_How did Shuu know about them?_ Touma wondered. _Well, he probably saw me out with Katya, obviously… But how does he know about her cousins? I've only ever seen them at the diner or their apartment…_

"I'm just joshing you, bud. Wipe that look off your face." Shuu was laughing as he said this, like there was some big joke going on that Touma wasn't aware of.

"Sorry, I just… Didn't know you knew about that, Shuu. We haven't really talked lately, you and me." Touma felt a small shred of regret that he had been ignoring Shuu ever since Katya had shown up.

"No worries, man. Besides, can't say I blame you." Shuu had a really dumb grin on his face as he said this, and Touma found himself really tired of not understanding just what everyone meant.

"Huh?" Shuu didn't answer, only pointing to an apartment building and heading in. Touma followed him.

"Whose place is this?" Touma asked Shuu. The interior of the apartment building was decent, and he gauged it to be somewhere between Katya's and his own in terms of niceness.

"My friend Ryo's. He lives by himself and he's kind of loud, but he's a pretty stand up dude, you'll like him." Touma had never pegged Shuu for the reassuring type, but the look on Shuu's face was clearly one of concern for Touma.

"Did you tell him I was coming with you?" Touma felt much the way he did when he first visited Katya's apartment, that lingering feeling of intrusion and being some kind of charity case.

"Yep, I told them all, like, yesterday. They're nice, man, you'll like them." Shuu and Touma were in the elevator by this time, and Touma found himself staring at the elevator doors with a mild sense of dread. He wanted to bolt.

Once he and Shuu had stepped into Ryo's apartment, Touma couldn't help but compare it to Katya's. It was smaller, for one thing, but much brighter and nicer overall. Ryo had less furniture, but it also looked less likely to collapse on itself (Touma winced as he thought about Katya's couch and how he had spent many a night afraid to even move on the thing for fear it would fall apart).

"Hey, Shuu. This is Touma, right?" A dark-haired boy about Touma's height came over and greeted them. "I'm Sanada Ryo."

"Hashiba Touma." Touma offered, unsure of what else to say. Ryo kept turning his head as he looked Touma up and down.

"I'd say he's between Shin and Seiji on the scale, closer to Shin, though." Ryo told Shuu, who laughed. Touma looked at both of them, confused. Shuu filled him in.

"Shin and Seiji are the other guys we're hanging out with today. They were both kinda like you when we started hanging out with them." Touma raised an eyebrow at this.

"Uptight, shy, whatever." Ryo interjected when he saw the confusion on Touma's face. "Chill a bit. You don't have to be on your guard here."

While what Ryo told him didn't relax him completely, Touma did feel a little better. He still hoped they wouldn't think he was weird, but at least they seemed to get he wasn't used to being social.

"C'mon in the living room, guys. Touma, you like video games?" Ryo asked. Touma nodded as Ryo lead them into the living room and handed him a game controller.

Shin and Seiji weren't there yet, but by the time they arrived, Touma was playing a fighting game against Ryo and while he was on the verge of losing, Touma was having fun.

"How did you- Dude, not cool!" Ryo yelled as Touma managed to execute his character's desperation move and take Ryo's life meter down to zero. Touma laughed and handed the game controller to Shuu.

"I see the fun started without us." Touma looked up to see two boys, one with reddish hair and the other with blond; the blond had been the one to speak. "Is this the new guy?"

"Yeah, my name's Touma." Touma spoke before Shuu or Ryo had a chance to. Something in him disliked the blond boy. He seemed stuck-up.

"My name is Date Seiji." The blond boy bowed to Touma, which shocked him and made the other boys laugh.

"Seiji, stop being so formal. I told you to cut that out." Shuu said, getting up to head to the kitchen. When Shuu's back was turned, Seiji stuck his tongue out at Shuu, which made everyone else laugh and caused Shuu to turn around.

"What's so funny?" Shuu asked.

"Nothing." The others all responded in unison.

Hanging out with Shuu and his friends was a learning experience for Touma. While he knew Shuu was friendly enough, the way the others treated him surprised him. They pretty much accepted him right away, like he had always been a member of their group. They teased him for being bookish and smart, but it was like the way Katya teased him, the sort of "You're one of us, we can make fun of each other and not be mean about it" teasing. They made fun of Touma, but they made fun of each other, too: things like Shuu's big eating, Shin's shyness and gentleness (Touma lost count of how many times they called Shin a girl, and how Shin merely laughed and said that meant he'd probably be the first one with a girlfriend and they'd all eat their words then), Seiji's near over-the-top politeness, and Ryo's hair-trigger temper were all exaggerated for the sake of friendly teasing.

Sometimes the discussions they had shifted, and instead of talking about video games or school or taking the piss out of each other, they talked about girls. Touma listened to his new friends talk about the girls they saw in school, and how hot they were, and wondered if he should bring up Katya. He decided against bringing her up himself, but after he's been hanging out with them for almost two weeks, Ryo forced his hand.

"Hey Poindexter!" Ryo had christened him that at some point, and the nickname had stuck. "How come you never talk about girls?"

Touma shrugged. His mind briefly drifted to Katya, who he had only heard from twice since she threw him to the wolves. She wasn't his girlfriend, but he thought his friends would assume she was; and the whole arrangement they had wouldn't help matters, no matter which way he phrased it.

"What about that Russian girl you hang out with almost every night?" Shuu asked, and Touma glared in his direction. "Hey, man, just saying, you're always hanging out with her."

"Poindexter's got a girlfriend?" Ryo asked, and Touma wanted to wipe the smirks off of everyone's faces. "Is she hot? Like…" And Ryo made a sort of hourglass motion with his hands.

"It's… It's not… Like that." Touma stammered, blushing heavily. That just egged the others on, even Seiji and Shin.

"What's her name, Touma-san?" Seiji asked.

"So she's Russian? How did you meet?" Shin joined in.

"C'mon, Poindexter, spill." That was obviously Ryo.

Shuu just sat there with a dumb grin on his face, and Touma briefly entertained the thought of punching Shuu's teeth out.

"Enough!" he yelled out, and they all fell silent, perhaps amazed at Touma's outburst. Touma took a deep breath to calm himself, and finally began to speak.

"She's not my girlfriend, we're just… friends. Honest." He told them. "To answer your questions…Her name's Katya… Actually, it's Ekaterina but no one ever calls her that. She is Russian, obviously, and we met at the diner where her cousins work. She lives with them."

Most of the others smirked like they thought he was lying or something, but Ryo blinked and was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his question surprised Touma.

"Do you mean Katya Tarasova?" Touma looked over at Ryo and nodded.

"Do you know her?" he asked Ryo, who nodded in return.

"We went on a date about three months ago." Ryo told him.

The whole group fell silent at that, like no one knew quite what to say. Finally, Shin broke the silence.

"Is this going to make things weird? I mean, Ryo dated Touma's girlfri-"

"Not my girlfriend." Touma interjected.

"Okay, so Ryo dated Touma's not-girlfriend before he did. Is this going to get weird?" Shin asked.

"Yeah, is this going to be a problem for you guys?" Seiji looked over at Touma and Ryo, who looked at each other before turning back to the group.

"Nah, it won't," Ryo said. "It was one date, Touma, and nothing else came of it."

Touma arched an eyebrow at Ryo's choice of phrasing, which caused Ryo to, as Katya probably would have put it, go motormouth.

"I mean, nothing happened. She's not my type. I mean, not that Katya isn't a nice girl and all, but she's not my kind of girl. Which doesn't mean I think she's a bad person or anything, I just don't see her as girlfriend material. I mean, _my _girlfriend material, I'm sure she's girlfriend mater-"

"I get it, Ryo." Touma cut him off, if for no other reason than so Ryo would calm himself down. "Don't have a stroke, jeez."

"Sorry sorry sorr-"

"And stop apologizing; you're as bad as Seiji." Touma smirked, enjoying his friend's discomfort just a little.

It was kind of funny, in a way. Ryo was worried about offending Touma much the same way Touma had been worried about weirding out the guys before. The fact they asked so many questions and Ryo was so apologetic for an imaginary offense meant they saw Touma as a friend.

"Hey!" Seiji gave Touma's arm a light punch, but it was obvious he wasn't offended.

"No, Seiji's worse. Given enough time, he'll apologize for breathing too loudly." Shin joked.

And so the topic of Katya was forgotten for now, and the boys went back to taking potshots at each other. After playing some video games with Shuu and Seiji, Touma excused himself and went home.

A message was on his answering machine. As he went to the kitchen to heat up a frozen dinner, he pressed the play button and Katya's voice rang out.

"Hey, Touma, it's Katya." A long pause. "I guess you're out right now with some friends… Or you're ignoring me because you're still mad about this whole making you social thing." A light laugh, and Touma found himself smiling. "So anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie with me on Friday? I miss you."

Touma froze at the last sentence. She… missed him? What did that mean, really? How did she mean it?

"So yeah," Katya's voice continued. "Call me back, even if you don't want to go. You still have my number, right? Oh, right… Machine. Anyway, I'll call back later if I don't hear from you. Bye, Touma!"

The machine stopped playing and Touma smiled to himself. He had missed Katya, too, though hanging out with the guys had been fun. He decided to wait for her to call back, and accept her invitation. After all, they needed to catch up.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Let it be said I hated this chapter, and I think it comes off forced a bit. It's also monstrously long (6 pages and almost three thousand words in Microsoft word), and very dialogue-heavy. I wanted to focus on Touma's home and social lives equally, but his social life won out. I hope I didn't do too bad. I personally like Ryo's motormouthing, Shin referring to Katya as Touma's "not-girlfriend," and Katya's inability to remember she's talking to the answering machine. Next chapter is Touma and Katya again. As always, leave me reviews, I love to hear from you guys!<p> 


	9. Movie Night

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. The movie Touma and Katya watch in the theater is meant to be the film _9 Songs_, though the title isn't referenced. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Nine: Movie Night

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>Katya eventually called back, and only talked long enough to let Touma accept her invitation and tell him to meet her at her apartment at six on Friday. She also told him to dress warmly and said something about the theater being cold. Touma had wanted to ask some questions, but Katya was off the line before he had a chance to say anything.<p>

Touma attributed it to whatever had been keeping Katya busy during their separation. He wasn't stupid; he knew Katya probably wasn't sitting around waiting for the two weeks to be up, and while he understood why she wouldn't, it kind of hurt she didn't talk to him as often as she had before. While Katya wasn't his only friend, she was the one he trusted the most. Not being able to tell her what was going on in his life (no matter how she sometimes had to drag information out of him, he always told her everything eventually) hurt him. It had been two weeks, but for Touma it had been two weeks too long.

Thankfully, time didn't drag as Touma waited for Friday. He hung out with the guys a few times, but mostly, he read poetry again. Not that he had stopped, but it had taken a backseat to everything else he had going on, and he hadn't read a whole lot of poetry since Katya had told him to be more social. He reread Neruda again; though he knew some of the poems by heart, Touma wanted to know them all.

Soon, it was Friday. Touma dressed as warmly as he could stand and headed to Katya's apartment. Strangely, Vasha and Philippe must have been out, because when Touma knocked at the door, Katya answered and the apartment was quiet and seemed to be dark.

"Just let me grab my purse," Katya said, disappearing back into the apartment, leaving the faint scent of perfume in her wake.

The fact she was even wearing perfume startled Touma somewhat. It was a nice perfume, not flowery, more like spicy citrus. He had never remembered her actually wearing any before. He wondered if it meant anything, and finally decided as Katya exited the apartment and locked the door behind her that it didn't. She had probably been wearing it before and he just never noticed.

Katya smiled at him and hugged him for a long moment. It allowed Touma to breathe in her perfume more, and he was positive now she had never worn it before.

"I missed you," she whispered in his ear. She pulled away, but Touma pulled her back in, kissing her gently. Pulling apart, the two smiled at each other.

"Should we get going?" Katya said finally, leading Touma out of the building.

The walk to the theater wasn't far. It wasn't a theater Touma recognized, and seemed smaller than he expected. He turned to Katya, who smiled at him and began to explain.

"I thought it'd be nice to go a little out of the way tonight. I'm not much for big theaters and mainstream movies. You don't mind foreign films, do you?" She smiled, but Touma could tell it was a nervous smile. It was the first time he could recall her being in such a state; she was usually either energetic and happy or cool and collected.

"It sounds like fun. I'll give it a shot." That must have been the right answer, because Katya beamed and led him into the theater.

Katya paid for their tickets (Touma had no idea what was playing or what was good, so he told Katya to get tickets to something she wanted to see) and got herself and Touma sodas and popcorn. He tried to convince her to let him pay for something, but she waved him off, saying she had been the one to ask him to the movie and so she would be the one to pay.

Touma didn't know much about foreign film, but he knew some things. Accordingly, he was expecting something pretentious, overly romantic, completely depressing, utterly incomprehensible, or some mix of the four. He was prepared to be bored, but he had promised Katya he would try. He told himself he was spending time with Katya and that made it not so bad.

He was not nearly expecting that much nudity. And he was pretty sure there was no way you could fake some of the sex scenes they showed.

He wasn't totally clear on the plot, even with the subtitles. There were only two actors, so he was pretty sure the film was about their relationship and its eventual end, especially since there was a lot of sex going on between the two and the ending made it pretty clear the guy didn't get the girl, though Touma wasn't sure why. The cut from whatever the main story was to the couple or the guy alone at several different concerts made no sense, but the music had a nice beat.

Katya seemed to enjoy the movie, though she turned to him during the many sex scenes with a blush. "I feel like I'm intruding on a private moment," she whispered to him at one point, giggling and hiding her face in his shoulder.

After the movie, Katya and Touma could barely look at each other without laughing and blushing. Exiting the theater, Touma put his arm around Katya and they began to walk toward the diner without a word.

The air was cool and crisp, and the sky was almost completely dark, which Touma thought was odd. Still, he liked having the weather as an excuse to walk to close to Katya. He wondered about the events of the night thus far, and a question sprang to his mind.

"Is this a date?" Katya looked over at him as he asked this, and pulled his arm tighter around her shoulders before answering.

"Maybe. If you want." This non-answer didn't irritate Touma as much as it might have a few weeks ago, before the kiss episode. He understood now Katya was leaving much of their deal in his hands, letting him make the moves and deciding for himself what counted as a romantic moment between them. Though he still wondered about their relationship parameters, he appreciated the lack of pressure to make everything about their deal.

"If I want it to be?" The two of them stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and Touma pulled Katya over to face him. Katya smiled at him and stood closer, but made no move beyond that.

"Then it is." She told him simply.

"I want it to have been a date. But…" Touma trailed off.

"Yes?" Katya was back to her cool and collected self, and Touma wondered if it would always be like that. It was as if their time from picking her up at her apartment to leaving the theater was some kind of dream; like in that space of time, he had been seeing the real Katya, nervous and embarrassed and wonderful.

That small slice of time made him wonder if he truly knew her, or if most of the time she had been hiding herself behind a persona. There had been clues before, some small moments during his first visit to her apartment, and their first kiss, but most of the time… Katya's every move seemed calculated, not necessarily in a bad way, but like she was afraid of just being herself, like she was merely acting as she felt Touma needed her to act.

"Never mind," he said finally. "Can we just call this a date and let it go?"

Katya nodded and slid back next to Touma. He put his arm around her shoulders again, and they resumed their walk to the diner.

"Are Vasha and Philippe working tonight?" Touma asked her as they entered. Katya shook her head.

"Vasha has a date, and Philippe had some… something, I don't know." Katya told him.

They were about to seat themselves in a booth when they heard a yell.

"Hey, Poindexter! Over here!"

It was Ryo and the other guys. Touma looked over at Katya, who smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Shall we?" she asked.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Mild cliffhanger! And yes, the movie Touma and Katya watched is an actual movie, called <em>9 Songs<em>, and I'm pretty sure it's a British film. The sex in it is totally unsimulated (though not pornographic), and it is actually a decent movie, even if I wouldn't recommend it for a first date (awkward!). I kind of approached Touma's summary of it as the point of view of someone who has, first, never had a romantic relationship, and second, is not a native to the primary language of the film. I felt it worked. As always, leave reviews if you'd like, even if you hate my story. I love criticism, and use it to improve myself.


	10. Closer

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. The poem Katya reads in this chapter is "Rain towards Morning," by Elizabeth Bishop. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Ten: Closer

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>"Let's just say hello," Touma whispered to Katya. "I kind of… well, you know…"<p>

"Want to keep that 'date' feeling going?" Katya asked. Touma nodded. "Alright, then. "

The two of them walked over, but Touma noted the space between them now. He had had his arm around Katya when they came in, but now they stood a few inches apart, not even holding hands.

_Was she nervous about what people thought?_ Touma discounted that notion quickly; Katya was physically affectionate when she wanted to be, without much concern as to who was watching. _She had obviously noticed Ryo was the one to call us over; maybe she was trying to be polite, since she and Ryo had been on a date not too long ago? _Well, three months was a bit of a long time, so that couldn't be it; besides, Ryo said there wasn't much chemistry between them. _She's probably just nervous about meeting my friends, that's all. She doesn't want to seem clingy_, Touma decided.

Touma and Katya paused at the booth. Katya waved and said nothing, while Touma quietly muttered a 'hello' to the others.

"Are we interrupting something?" Shuu asked, and Touma noticed that dumb grin again, and once again had the urge to punch Shuu's teeth out. He didn't understand why every time Shuu did that, he had that urge.

"Probably," Seiji said. "Sorry we-"

"Don't apologize, Seiji." Touma found himself interrupting. "We don't mind."

Katya nodded. "Not at all. I assume you guys are Touma's friends?"

Touma went through the introductions quickly. He noticed that Katya and Ryo didn't react to seeing each other, and neither mentioned having met before. He wondered why briefly, but then Shin spoke up.

"Do you two want to join us? We have room, and no one's ordered yet." He asked.

Touma shook his head and slid an arm around Katya again. He noticed the faint surprise on everyone else's faces, but Katya had a sort of faint smile on hers.

"Thanks, but we just stopped in to grab something to go." He explained, wondering where the lie had come from and why he said it. He supposed a little of it was wanting to keep the date feeling going, like he had told Katya, but that wasn't all of it. He also wanted to spend time alone with Katya, since tonight was the first time he had done so in ages. He had missed her.

But that wasn't all of it, either. Something else was nagging at Touma, but he couldn't figure it out. Some other reason he wanted Katya to himself tonight. Pushing the unknown feeling aside, he said goodbye to his friends and went to the front of the diner with Katya.

He wasn't sure how they had known (he chalked it off to someone eavesdropping), but the usual orders were waiting for them in to-go containers. Touma brushed off Katya's offer to pay and paid for their meal, taking the containers from the hostess and leaving the diner.

"So… Where to now?" Touma asked. Katya shrugged, but he noticed her body turn to walk in the direction of her apartment.

"Want to go back to my place?" she asked. "We'll have the place to ourselves, but we can eat and watch TV or whatever."

Both of them blushed at the implication of having the apartment to themselves.

"That's not what I meant," Katya muttered.

"I know," Touma tried to say, but he found himself laughing instead. Part of him enjoyed seeing Katya embarrassed, but he knew it was less about the embarrassment itself and more about the way it made Katya seem more human to him. The front had slipped away again, and he found himself enjoying it.

Katya stuck her tongue out at him, and they resumed walking to the apartment. After they arrived and were in the elevator waiting to reach the sixth floor, Touma found himself staring at Katya. When she seemed to realize this and turned to face him, he gave her a quick kiss.

"What was that for?" Katya murmured as they pulled away from each other.

"Do I need a reason?" Touma asked. Katya shook her head and smiled at him.

When they got to the apartment, Katya took the food containers from Touma and put them on the counter. Taking off her jacket, she motioned to the living room.

"Go make yourself comfortable. I'm going to change." She told him, disappearing down the hall.

Touma grabbed his container of food and headed to the living room. Taking a bite of his egg sandwich, he noticed a thick hardcover book on the end table beside one of the couches. As he sat down, he reached over and took it. Putting his food aside, he flipped through the book.

It was in writing he didn't understand. He guessed it was probably Russian, and judging from the structure of the words on the page, it was probably poetry. He was about to put the book back when he heard Katya enter the living room.

"Enjoying the book?" she teased him. She had changed into a tank top and shorts, and her hair was up in a loose bun. Her face seemed different somehow, and it took Touma a moment to realize she had been wearing makeup during their date and had washed it off when she went to change.

"I would if I could read it," he replied, handing her the book. Katya flipped through it, setting on a page, and began to read.

"The great light cage has broken up in the air, freeing, I think, about a million birds whose wild ascending shadows will not be back," Katya sat down next to Touma, taking his hand in one of hers while keeping the book in her other hand, and kept reading. "And all the wires come falling down. No cage, no frightening birds; the rain is brightening now. The face is pale that tried the puzzle of their prison and solved it with an unexpected kiss, whose freckled unsuspected hands alit."

Touma didn't quite understand the poem Katya had just read to him, but he sat just a little closer to her, as if by decreasing the space between them he could understand the words she had just read to him.

"It's by Elizabeth Bishop," Katya told him. "An American poet. Vasha picked up a Russian translation somewhere for me. There's just… something about her poems. Like you with Pablo Neruda."

Touma nodded. At that moment he wanted to respond by reciting a line from Neruda's poems, but he wasn't fast enough to think of one that fit the situation and the moment passed. Katya shook her head as though to clear it and set the book aside. Touma noticed the change in Katya's demeanor and put his food container on the end table. Before either one of them spoke again, Touma put his arms around Katya and held her to him, suspecting it was the right thing to do.

Katya relaxed against him, laying her head on his shoulder. She made a funny little noise in her throat that Touma thought sounded like a sob, but it was too quiet to be sure. She began to shiver in his arms, and he wrapped a blanket around the both of them in an attempt to warm her, but she kept shivering.

Eventually Katya stilled in his arms, and it took Touma a moment to realize she had fallen asleep. He slid off the couch and took her in his arms carefully. He carried her to her bedroom, laying her on the bed, and turned to leave when he heard her speak.

"Stay with me tonight, Touma, please? I…I don't want to be alone." Touma hesitated for a moment, unsure of what she meant.

"I'll be in the living room tonight. I won't be far, I promise." He thought she was asking him not to leave the apartment, and he wanted to reassure her that he wasn't.

Touma could make out Katya shaking her head in the darkness, and he was confused. He had just promised not to leave her alone in the apartment, hadn't he?

"No, I mean… stay here, with me." At that moment, it clicked.

"You mean, here? In your room?" Touma asked her. He saw her nod. "But what about-"

"Vasha won't be coming back tonight, and Philippe doesn't care. No one will see, Touma." The last sentence baffled him, but he found himself nodding, anyway. He stripped down to his boxers, leaving his shirt on, and climbed into Katya's bed next to her.

Katya fell back asleep quickly, and Touma simply laid there next to her, listening to her breathe. He wondered why she had been so upset before she fell asleep. Their date had gone well, and she seemed happy when they arrived at the apartment. Something about the poem she had read had upset her. But she had chosen to read it. Maybe it was just the poet, and something about the poet's works always stirred sad emotions in her? Touma realized there was so much to Katya he didn't know.

He resolved to talk to Vasha the next day. Maybe Katya's cousin could shed some light on the mystery.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Sorry this took so long, I've been pulling double shifts at work and I've been so exhausted.<p>

The plot's moving along nicely, but I have a question for you guys. My profile says this story has three sequels planned (one a direct sequel, and the other two will be differing timelines that result from a choice made in the direct sequel), but I'm also thinking about another story that's just alternate takes of chapters or scenes, deleted scenes, and maybe an occasional one-shot from a character's viewpoint other than Touma's. Would you guys be interesting in reading that? Let me know!


	11. Trying to Figure it Out

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Eleven: Trying to Figure it Out

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>When Touma awoke the next morning, he was surprised to find Katya wasn't lying next to him. Sitting up, he looked around to see that the door to her bedroom was open, and he could hear sounds emanating from down the hall. Getting up, he put his pants back on and went into the kitchen.<p>

Katya wasn't anywhere in the apartment, but Vasha and Philippe were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking in soft Russian. They looked up when they heard him approach, and greeted him.

"Katya went to run some errands," Vasha told him, and Touma noticed the smile on his face. It seemed almost sinister. "Have a seat, Touma."

Touma let out a scoff. "I don't think so," he tried to say, but as he talked, Philippe got up and physically forced him into a chair.

"That wasn't a request," Philippe told him, grinning.

"Malʹchik dolzhen bytʹ geniem." Vasha said. "Ya dumayu, chto Katya lgal nam."

Touma wasn't sure if Vasha was speaking to him at first, but he knew Vasha wasn't one to randomly lapse in Russian to speak to someone who didn't know the language. He was obviously speaking to Philippe.

"Um… How about a language I can understand?" Touma asked them.

"Fine," Vasha said. "What were you doing in Katya's bedroom?"

"Nothing happened, and it wasn't like that." Touma said, finding himself getting angry with Vasha and Philippe. "You should trust your cousin."

"It's not her we don't trust." Vasha said, getting up and getting himself another cup of coffee.

"Nothing happened," Touma insisted. "We went on a date last night, and Katya got upset after we got back to the apartment. She asked me to sleep in her bed with her."

Silence fell, and Touma wasn't sure if he was believed. He wondered if he should run, and how quickly he could make it to the door. _Not that it matters,_ he thought. _Being on the sixth floor gives me a distinct disadvantage._

"Katya was upset? Why?" Philippe asked, gazing at Touma. Touma didn't recognize the look in Philippe's eye, but he was pretty sure it meant 'If you hurt my cousin, you're dead' or something along those lines.

"I was hoping you two would know." Touma told them. "She read this poem from this book, and then her whole… She just kind of… Changed."

"Hmm…" was all that came out of Philippe's mouth. Vasha sat back down, took a sip of his coffee, and began to speak.

"I don't know specifics, but I have ideas." He told Touma.

"But in any case, Katya should be the one to tell you." Philippe interrupted. "It's not our place."

Touma noticed that Vasha and Philippe seemed to be having a stare down. He knew that it would probably be a good time to leave, but he also knew he couldn't let the matter go. Not yet, at least. He wanted to at least find out why they wouldn't tell him.

Touma knew that Katya's cousins knew her better than he did, probably better than he would ever know. He wanted them to help him, and he knew in order for them to do that, he had to reassure them he meant no ill will.

"Look," Touma began, and both Vasha and Philippe turned to look at him. "Katya's my friend, and I want you to know I don't want to hurt her at all. I just want to be able to help, if I can. But I can't really do anything unless I have help from you two. You know her better than I do, and hell, you probably always will. I just… I don't want to screw up."

Vasha and Philippe smirked at each other.

"On lyubit yee." Vasha said, waving his hand over at Touma. Touma figured whatever Vasha was saying, it was probably about him.

"Lyuboĭ zhelayushchiĭ mozhet uvidetʹ yego." Philippe was nodding and chuckling, obviously in agreement with Vasha.

"Can't you two speak a language that I understand?" Touma asked them.

"On ne mozhet." Vasha said, and Touma became aware that at this point, the two of them were almost gleefully ignoring him.

"Dolzhna bytʹ geniem." Philippe said, and Touma was aware it sounded like something Vasha had said much earlier, and figured it was meant to be a joke of some sort.

"You know, it's very rude to talk about people like they're not here." Touma said, and both of them looked at him with shocked looks on their faces, like they were startled because they thought he understood. "So I was right, you were talking about me."

Vasha and Philippe both laughed, but Touma noticed it was a nervous sort of laugh. He had gotten them, and good.

"You're alright, kid." Vasha said, taking another sip of coffee.

"So… Can you fill me in?" Touma asked. "Seriously, I'd like to know what's going on with Katya."

"Kid, weren't you listening?" Vasha asked. "We can't tell you."

Touma was frustrated. Why weren't they helping him? They must have been concerned about Katya, but when he tried to get their help, they brushed him off. Just what was going on?

"Touma, it's not that we won't tell you. We really can't. Honest." Philippe told him.

"Why not?" He asked them. Philippe sighed and shook his head, as though he was surprised and frustrated Touma wasn't getting whatever it was they were trying to tell him.

"Touma… It's not our place to tell you," Philippe told him, and Touma noticed Philippe's tone was like that of someone trying to explain something to a child, and Touma resented the implication of that.

"Why?" He asked again.

"Because only Katya can tell you, really. And if she chooses not to, you have to respect that." Philippe told him.

Touma sighed. He knew they were right, ultimately. They might know, but Katya was the only one who really knew what was going on in her mind, and she was the only one who could give him the full story.

The front door opened. Katya entered the apartment, carrying a bag of groceries.

"I'm home!" she called. She looked over at the kitchen table and saw Touma. "Oh, you're awake, finally."

"I'm not that bad." Touma told her, moving to grab the groceries from her.

"Sure, sure." Katya said, handing him the groceries.

As Touma went to put the groceries away, he noticed any traces of Katya's distress from the previous night seemed gone. While he wondered the cause of it, he knew he was happy to see her happy again. For now, he would put the matter aside.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Another chapter done. For those who are curious, here's the translation for the Russian Vasha and Philippe were speaking:<p>

Malʹchik dolzhen bytʹ geniem: The boy is supposed to be a genius.

Ya dumayu, chto Katya lgal nam: I think Katya lied to us.

On lyubit yee: He loves her.

Lyuboĭ zhelayushchiĭ mozhet uvidetʹ yego: Anyone can see it.

On ne mozhet: He can't.

Dolzhna bytʹ geniem: Supposed to be a genius.

On a story-related note, the rating for this is going up to M in about… *checks timeline* Four chapters. Fair warning, I guess (yes, I have a timeline constructed for this story. With dates, even. I'll post it in _Companion Pieces_, but only after the story is done).

Speaking of _Companion Pieces_, it's up (obviously). Right now there are only two short extended scenes from chapters 4 and 9, and two alternate takes from chapter 10. Sometime this weekend I should be posting a couple of companion short stories, though. If I post these pieces this weekend, I'll try to post chapter 12 of this story at the same time.


	12. Discussion

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Twelve: Discussion

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>Katya giggled as Touma ran his hands through her hair again.<p>

"You cut it." He repeated again.

He couldn't believe it. Katya's hair had trailed down to her lower back just yesterday when she came back from the market. Now, as they stood in her bedroom the next night, her hair barely brushed past her chin at its longest point. That was the other thing: it was layered now, where before it had been mostly one length aside from her bangs. All in all, Touma liked it. The waves in her hair were emphasized more, and it seemed healthier and more vibrant.

"Got it highlighted, too." She said, twisting herself out of his arms and lying on her bed.

"Like I can tell? I'm a dude, Katya. We only notice the bigger picture." He teased her, lying down next to her and reaching a hand over to stroke her cheek. Katya giggled again, turning her head slightly and kissing Touma's palm before moving closer to him and resting her forehead against his chest.

They lay like that for a long moment, bodies barely touching. Touma thought about the simple beauty of the two of them like this. It was a small and quiet moment, but he couldn't remember being so happy. It wasn't a grand gesture and maybe it was something no one else would really care about, but it was a moment Touma knew he'd revisit again and again as the years passed, a moment Touma figured he'd probably recall on his deathbed as the happiest moment he'd ever experienced. He told himself that what he and Katya had wasn't romantic, wasn't the sort of relationship poets would write about, but he enjoyed the time he spent with the girl he regarded as his best friend.

Katya twisted herself out of Touma's embrace and lay on her side, propping herself up on one elbow to stare at him. After a while, he mimicked her, and they stared at each other for a long moment. Touma was the one to finally break the stare, lowering his gaze to sweep over Katya's body. For a brief moment, he wondered what she looked like naked before blushing and shaking his head.

"What?" Katya asked him.

She must have caught him staring, which made Touma blush worse. Katya poked him in the side and repeated her question. Touma shook his head and rolled onto his back. Before he had a chance to tell Katya it wasn't important, she appeared above him. She had climbed on top of him, and before he had a chance to tell her to get off of him, she began to tickle him, demanding he tell her what he had been thinking.

"Never!" Touma managed between laughs. "I'll never surrender!"

"We have ways of making you talk!" Katya retorted, beginning to laugh now herself.

Katya stopped tickling Touma for a moment, and he saw his chance. Before she could resume her attack, Touma managed to flip them over and began to tickle her in retaliation.

"Alright, alright, enough!" Katya told Touma, and he slid away from her.

They fell silent again, before Katya's hand drifted to clasp Touma's. He looked over at her, but she simply smiled. Katya closed her eyes and laid her head on Touma's shoulder, moving to whisper in his ear.

"It's okay, I know you were picturing me naked." She told him, and Touma could almost see her smirking out of the corner of his eye. He jolted upward and stared at her, almost in a panic.

"How did you know?" he asked. Katya chuckled and moved over to sit next to him again.

"You just told me." She said, sounding almost gleeful that she had caught him.

Touma let out a nervous laugh. He knew he was almost transparent in his thoughts, but it was getting almost ridiculous.

"I'm sorry." He told her. "I'm being inappropriate."

"Why be sorry?" Katya asked him. "It's normal. I'd be more worried if you weren't picturing me naked."

"Can we talk about something else?" He asked her. She grinned and shook her head.

"Why are you so nervous?" she asked him. "Sex is perfectly normal."

"Who's talking about _sex_?" Touma heard his voice raise in pitch, and his cheeks colored again. Katya was embarrassing him again, and making him uncomfortable. Where before, he had only been wondering what she looked like naked, now he imagined the two of them locked together in an embrace, her lips parted and a soft moan escaping them, as he moved inside her… He shook his head to clear it again.

"Does sex embarrass you, Touma?" Katya asked him, and she was smirking again. "I mean, I know you're a virgin, but-"

"Who said I was a virgin?" he interrupted, and as he did, he felt stupid. Of course Katya knew he was a virgin. There was no point in pretending otherwise.

Judging from the look on Katya's face, she was thinking the same thing, but she at least refrained from saying anything out loud. She looked down at her bed, tracing the flower pattern on the sheets with her finger.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I shouldn't tease you about being a virgin."

"Since you're one, too? No, you shouldn't." he told her, but the teasing tone was back in his voice as he attempted to bring both of them back to their earlier mood.

Katya looked up at him again. She bit her lip before breaking the gaze and staring down at the sheets again.

"I'm not a virgin, Touma. I haven't been for… oh, let me think… About two years now, almost? I was just about to turn 15, and since I'll be 17 in November… Yeah, let's say two years." Katya said, nodding her head when she finally concluded just how long it had been.

Touma found himself a little shocked. While he had expected Katya to be more experienced in dating, he had thought she was a virgin like he was. Now, he found himself feeling more intimidated of her. More experience in dating was one thing, but now that he knew she was more experienced than him all around… Then a thought struck him.

"Was it…" Touma trailed off, and Katya looked up at him. "I mean, were you… you know… forced?"

"Was it rape, you mean?" she asked, and he nodded. Katya shook her head. "No. I consented with both of the guys I slept with."

"Two?" Not what Touma was expecting at all.

"Well, not at the same time." Katya said. It was obvious she intended it as a joke, but it just made Touma feel lightheaded.

"I… I don't know what to say." Touma told her.

Katya shook her head and slid over next to him. He turned away from her, unsure of how he felt. She gently cupped his chin in her hand and forced him to look at her.

"Did I upset you?" she asked him.

Touma removed himself from her hold and shook his head.

"I have no right to be upset," he told her. "This is only a deal we've made, right? You're just here to help me be more… Whatever."

He got up from the bed and started walking toward the door. When he got to the doorway, he paused and turned to look at Katya. She was looking down at her bedsheets again, but she looked up when she noticed he wasn't leaving.

Touma didn't know what to expect from Katya. He knew what he _wanted _her to do: he wanted the big dramatics, tears and sobs and her begging him not to leave, Katya confessing… Confessing what? He didn't know. For a moment, Touma wanted to walk back over to Katya. He was conflicted: on one hand, he wanted to sweep her in his arms, kiss her, and tell her that her past didn't matter to him (it really didn't; Touma knew he wasn't upset that Katya wasn't a virgin. He knew something else was bugging him, something he couldn't name). On the other, he wanted to scream at her, ask her if he even mattered to her at all. She was always so cool and so calm, except for those moments when the masks slipped away. It was only then, during those moments, that he almost forgot about the deal…

"Katya?" he asked her. She didn't answer, but he continued. "Is this really just a deal between us?"

Katya still didn't speak, and Touma bit back that urge again, the urge to start screaming at her. He watched as she hugged her knees close to her and looked everywhere but at him.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked him.

Touma tried to answer her. He stopped and started, groping for a response. He barely understood why he asked her the question. He didn't even know why he was so insistent on answers when he didn't even understand the feelings that were inspiring his questions.

He couldn't answer. So he turned back to the doorway, murmured a quiet apology, and left.

He could have sworn he heard Katya whisper his name as he walked through the doorway.

* * *

><p>Author's note: My beta hates me now. She's not sure what's worse: the way Touma keeps getting close to the realization he's in love with Katya but refusing to admit it (beta found the "best friend" bit absolutely painful), the way I kept faking out like they were about to have sex, or the way I ended the chapter. The chapter's end is my attempt at "high drama"- I'm usually fairly realistic in my stories, which is probably why they seem so slow to get to the romance and people are probably telling me to get on with it. But this chapter's end is still fairly realistic - Katya and Touma are just teenagers, after all (by the way, those of you who are timeline nerds and noticed the whole "Katya's turning 17 in November," this does mean Katya is older than Touma by almost a year. Now watch everyone start combing the story to see if it all matches up, which it does, though both characters automatically make the assumption Touma's older in chapter 2 before Katya asks how old he is).<p>

Due to some restructuring of the timeline I've written, the rating for this is actually going up when I publish chapter 14 (mostly because I combined the events of my original ideas for chapter 12 and what would have been chapter 13 in my original timeline- originally the talk about sex and the talk about the deal were supposed to be two separate chapters, but I combined them because it all meshed together wonderfully). I don't think I'll be posting anything in either this or _Companion Pieces _until after the New Year, though. By the way, _Companion Pieces _has two new chapters: a short story from Katya's viewpoint about when she first saw Touma (who isn't actually named in the story, but it's obviously him), and a short story detailing Katya and Ryo's first meeting and date pre-_LNC_ (I should warn you, it's frightfully boring).


	13. Realization

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Part Thirteen: Realization

By womanofwords

* * *

><p>Touma didn't see Katya again for five days. He avoided going to the apartment again but went to the diner at night as he usually did. He half-expected to see her there waiting for him, but she never showed up, even the one night he went and saw that both Vasha and Philippe were working. He tried to talk to them, but they acted as though they couldn't hear him or didn't see him.<p>

Touma was confused and unsure of how to proceed. The way he saw it, his options were to apologize (except he felt he had done nothing wrong), or to go see Katya and pretend nothing had happened (which he knew wouldn't go over well).

By the fifth day, he felt as if he was losing his mind. He had to see Katya. He _needed _to. He felt edgy, irritable, and unable to focus on even the simplest of tasks. He was sure his schoolwork was suffering, and it almost made him laugh because the only thing he seemed to have left was his schoolwork now.

Well, that and his friends. But they seemed to know something was off, and on the fifth day, they called him on it. Touma was playing video games with Ryo and Seiji again, while Shuu and Shin were watching and commenting on their playing. This, of course, meant they were mostly telling Touma to focus.

"Seriously, dude, what is _with _you?" Ryo asked, finally shutting off the game in frustration when Touma's lack of concentration led to them losing the fight against the level's boss again.

Touma shook his head. How could he really explain to his friends what had happened? It wasn't like they understood: none of them seemed to be in any kind of relationship with a girl, much less one as complicated as his relationship with Katya.

"It's..." He tried to say it was nothing, but couldn't force himself to say the word. It wasn't nothing, it felt like everything and he couldn't even begin to vocalize it.

"Something up with you and what's-her-name?" Seiji asked. Touma shrugged, and sank down into a recliner.

"Yeah, kind of. I think I… screwedup." He said, the last two words coming out in a rushed murmur. To even say that he screwed up… His mind was fighting the notion. No, he _never_ made any kind of mistake, never had a misunderstanding. He started his internal mantra again, that long endless string of _it's not my fault, it's not my fault, it's…_

"What happened?" Seiji questioned, and Touma noted the others looking on with interest.

It made him want to laugh, really. Was his… _thing_ with Katya really that interesting? Touma didn't think so, even if the lack of definition was maddening to him. Maybe that's what made it so interesting to others, he thought, or at least what made it interesting to his friends. The fact that it was the closest thing any of them really had to a romantic relationship… Touma really just began to chuckle at the absurdity of everything.

The others let him have his laughing fit, but he noted their looks of confusion. Who could blame them? Their friend was acting weird, had just admitted to a major screw-up in his not-romantic-but-kind-of-sort-of-it's-just-weird thing he had going with a girl, and instead of getting upset and pouring his heart out, Touma was laughing. If he were them, he'd probably be confused, too.

Touma finally managed to get a hold of himself. Drawing in a deep breath, he ran over the events of a few days previous before starting his explanation.

"Katya and I were at her apartment, and it just… I don't know. It was weird." He said, leaning back with a sigh. "It's mostly my fault. We were acting like we always do-"

"That couple-y BS?" Shuu interrupted. Shin shushed him and motioned for Touma to continue.

But Shuu's comment had given Touma pause. He and Katya had been acting kind of couple-like lately, hadn't they? More than usual, beyond the scope of their deal… Touma cleared his throat and continued.

"Yeah, I guess. I can't help it, though. She's… She's just… You know." He stumbled again. How could he describe Katya, really, in a way the others would understand?

"She's what, exactly, Touma?" Seiji prodded.

Touma shook his head. "I don't know how to explain it." He laughed again briefly before getting a hold of himself. "She's like all the sappy stupid poetry I've read, all those ridiculous love poems that I thought were garbage but she fits it so perfectly and I look at her and I just _get_ it… Oh, damn it!"

It was like being hit with a baseball bat. The reason for his actions the past few days- hell, the reason for his actions the past few _weeks_- finally made sense.

Of course he would be the last one to figure out he was in love with her.

"I'm an idiot," he managed to croak amidst the chuckles that escaped from him again. "I figured it out. I really just- God, I'm such an _ass_!"

The others just stared at him, waiting for an explanation. Touma took a moment to compose himself.

"I'm… This is all my fault. I got upset with her because… because this thing we have confuses me, and it turns out the only reason I'm confused is because I… I'm…" He stammered, trying to voice it.

"Hopelessly infatuated?" Shin supplied. Touma glared at him, and Shin merely shrugged. "It's pretty obvious, Touma."

"I know. I mean, I know that _now_. But the question is, what do I do now? I mean, I should apologize-"

"Duh." Shuu said.

"Anyway," Touma continued, shooting a glare Shuu's way. "I should apologize for screwing up, but then what? Should I tell her how I feel? I mean, it was the whole reason I was acting like an ass. But at the same time, maybe I shouldn't. Things might…" Touma trailed off.

"Might what?" Seiji asked him.

"Change." Touma said simply.

He shook his head. "I'll figure it out," he told them. "But first I need to go somewhere and think. I'll see you guys later."

The guys said goodbye to him as he walked out. From Ryo's apartment, Touma began walking aimlessly in no particular direction. He didn't have anywhere to be, but he needed someplace to think.

It turned out he thought as he walked. He still felt unsure about himself and Katya, even in the light of his realization. Would things change…? Of course they would, Touma thought. They already had. His realization didn't help anything, it really only made things more complicated. At least before, he could focus on the deal they had, but feelings complicated the whole mess. Would she still want to help him, even with the feelings he had for her?

It felt like a weird halfway step to Touma: She only wanted to help him so he had practice for a girlfriend, but Touma didn't want a girlfriend, really, he only wanted the time he had with Katya.

"Touma!" he heard someone call his name, and on reflex, he turned his head.

_Well, shit. Some higher power, somewhere, must hate me._ He thought. Katya was walking towards him now, and he was still no closer to any kind of resolution.

Touma stood still to wait for Katya, but kept his eyes to the pavement. One look at her now and he'd probably make a fool of himself. She quickly ran over to him, and he wanted to look, to see the expression on her face and try and figure out how she felt, but he kept his eyes firmly on the ground. He didn't want to see her face if she was still angry or upset with him.

"Are you still mad at me?" she asked him, and he found himself looking at her in spite of his resolve not to. She was frowning, and her eyes seemed like they were looking at him, but like they were also looking beyond him at the same time. He didn't know if she was upset or angry, but she didn't sound obviously angry, so that left upset.

He stared at her for a long moment, before realizing she was waiting for him to speak. He sighed.

"I was never… No. Not at all. I-" Touma said, trying and failing to articulate all the complex feelings he had at the moment. "I'm sorry." He told her finally. "I can be an idiot sometimes." There. That seemed concise enough and to the point. It _was_ pretty much all his fault, after all.

Katya giggled, and he found himself staring at her in amazement. That was it? No intense outburst? No taking him to task for his behavior before, and his avoidance of her the last five days? Just a giggle, like the whole thing was funny somehow?

"I'm sorry, too." She told him. "This isn't easy for either of us. I keep forgetting you don't know what you're doing, really."

Touma shrugged. No, he didn't know, but that didn't excuse him too much. He was supposed to be learning, not fighting this whole thing.

The two of them stared at each other. Touma was the one to break the silence.

"My birthday's in three days." He wasn't sure why he said that, what it had to do with anything. Was he trying to move away from the fight, and what had brought the whole thing on? It wasn't like anything was actually _resolved_…

"I know." Katya's voice broke through his thoughts again, and he looked at her to see she was smiling now. He took a breath, steeling himself against how that smile made his stomach feel like it was dropping, and how giddy he felt just seeing that she was okay now. "I bought something for you."

"What is it?" he asked. Katya merely grinning and began to walk away from him.

"You'll have to find out in three days." She called to him over her shoulder. "Meet me in the park near the diner at 5:30. Don't be late!"

Touma watched Katya leave, and when she finally faded from his sight, he shook his head and let out a chuckle.

"I'm doomed." He muttered to himself, but he was smiling now.

* * *

><p>Author's note: I am <em>so <em>sorry this took so long! My former beta crapped out on me, and between that, work, and my father being seriously ill (he's doing much better now, by the way), I had no time to post this. I should be back to a regular update schedule now, though (I have a new beta). I'm posting this and two stories to _Companion Pieces_ tonight, and I should be posting chapter 14 of this and a companion sidestory to chapter 14 sometime this week.

Speaking of Chapter 14, next chapter the rating is going up. Just a warning.


	14. Bittersweet Sixteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. The poems used in this chapter are "Always" and part of "Here I love You," both by Pablo Neruda. I make no money from this story.

Late Night Conversations

Chapter Fourteen: Bittersweet Sixteen

by womanofwords

* * *

><p>Touma woke up the morning of October 10th unsure of just how to feel. His birthday was normally just another day to him, and it was odd that he had something to look forward to now. He sort of expected his friends to acknowledge his birthday, but it was the promise of a gift from Katya that he looked forward to most.<p>

The idea of the gift that was waiting for him… He felt like a child again at the thought of it, but he also wondered what its significance was. Was she giving it to him merely because they were friends? Or was it more?

Touma sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was doing it again, trying to analyze and figure out the situation, doing it without enough information, and driving himself insane in the process. Still… It was either that or ask her directly, and he was still too much of a coward for that.

He went about his day, trying to push his upcoming meeting with Katya to the back of his mind. It wasn't easy, but he had managed to get through the school day. The anticipation of the gift was probably worse for his schoolwork than his behavior the previous week, but he would be fine, he told himself.

Touma arrived at the park almost an hour earlier than planned. He knew they were supposed to meet at five-thirty, but he couldn't wait; he had to get to the park right then.

He only spent the briefest amount of time with the guys after school. They seemed to have planned a small party: they had cupcakes and a few small presents, games and things they thought Touma would enjoy, like a manual on C++ and a small stuffed plush that looked like a robot. He did like the gifts, but his mind kept drifting to Katya and that gift in the park, and finally he told them he had to go meet Katya. The guys didn't seem to mind ("More cupcakes for me!" he heard Shuu say as he rushed out the door).

Touma knew not to expect Katya there right away, but she showed up about half an hour after he did. He raised an eyebrow as he saw her at the park gate. It was never like Katya to be early or late to anything; she was always simply punctual, never anything more or less. But there she was, early, and clutching something underneath her arm. It was his gift, wrapped in brown paper.

"Over here!" he called over to her, waving from the park bench he sat on. Katya looked over to him, smiling and giving a small wave as she walked over.

"Happy birthday, Touma." she said simply as she sat next to him and laid the gift in his lap. Before Katya could move her hands away, Touma grabbed one of them in his and just held it there, letting their hands rest clasped together in his lap.

The two of them didn't speak as they sat on the park bench. Katya rest her head on Touma's shoulder, and Touma didn't flinch away. _Why can't it always be like this_? He thought. _I don't have to think about anything, what any of it means, it's just like this and it's easy and it just __is__. I don't have to think about my feelings for her, or wonder what she feels for me, because this is all I need._

"Open your gift," Touma heard Katya say, and broke out of his thoughts to see her head rising from his shoulder and that she was turning to look at him.

Touma let go of Katya's hand and let his hands rest on the gift in his lap. It was covered in heavy and stiff brown paper, and it took him a moment to actually tear it so that he could see what it held within.

The cover was battered and worn. As he looked through, he noted that the pages were yellowed with age, and some of the text was faded. All the same, the book was perfect, he thought: a bilingual edition of Pablo Neruda poems, with Japanese text on one side and what he assumed to be Neruda's native Spanish on the other. Touma bit his lip and looked over at Katya, who was smiling.

"I… Thank you." He told her. "I'll keep it forever."

"Or at least till it falls apart," Katya teased back.

"No, even after that." Touma said. He could see it now: The book sitting in a locked box, the binding long having given out so the pages were all in disarray, the ink too worn and faded to be read so it was impossible to tell if the pages were in anything resembling order… and still, Touma keeping it, occasionally taking it out of safekeeping, his fingers lightly trailing the pages as if he could read it and remember it all just by touch.

"You're silly." Katya told him, and Touma merely smiled and leaned over to kiss her forehead.

"Where did you find this, anyway?" he asked her, lightly flipping through the pages.

"A used bookstore. Lucky find." She said simply, and Touma saw that her eyes had wandered away from the two of them and were now gazing into the park.

Touma held back a sigh. It seemed for every step he felt that he and Katya made, there were even more steps backwards. He could still feel that distance between them, the distance that had been there since their argument a week and a half earlier. Both of them had apologized, but that was it; they hadn't really _talked_ about what happened. They just seemed to ignore it, or pretend it didn't happen. Flipping through the pages of the book again, he stopped at a random poem and glanced at it before deciding it was perfect for the situation.

"Can I read you a poem from here?" he asked Katya. She looked back over at him and nodded, her face unreadable.

Touma cleared his throat and began to read. "I am not jealous of what came before me. Come with a man on your shoulders, come with a hundred men in your hair, come with a thousand men between your breasts and your feet, come like a river full of drowned men which flows down to the wild sea, to the eternal surf, to Time!

"Bring them all to where I am waiting for you; we shall always be alone, we shall always be you and I alone on earth, to start our life." Closing the book, Touma turned to look at Katya, but she was already rising from the park bench and hurrying away.

"Hope you enjoy the gift!" she called as she ran, but her voice sounded thick and strange to Touma, and he wondered – and became terrified at the thought of it- if he had made her cry.

As Touma watched her fade from his view, he knew he had to follow her, but he was uncertain as to just where she would go. The only two places he had ever seen Katya other than the park were the diner and her apartment. While the diner was close by, if Katya were upset, she probably wouldn't go to a public place, he figured. That left the apartment, but Touma was unsure if Vasha and Philippe were there, and if he would be welcome in if they were.

"I'll take my chances." He muttered to himself, tucking the book under his arm and beginning to walk in the direction of the apartment.

The walk was a long one, and Touma wondered why he didn't simply use public transportation, but he reasoned that the long walk would mean that Katya would be calmer by the time he reached the apartment if he had indeed upset her.

By the time he reached the apartment, Touma felt physically drained but mentally alert. He knew what he would say: he would ask Katya if she was okay, and say that her sudden departure worried him, and that he had come to the apartment to be sure she was okay.

He knocked at the door and waited. He heard sounds of shuffling around, and finally the door cracked open. Katya peered out the door, and all Touma could see were her green-gold eyes because of the darkness within the apartment.

"Touma? Why are you-"

"Can I come in?" he interrupted her. Katya made like she was going to close the door, but Touma heard the sound of a chain sliding before she opened the door fully and allowed him in.

"What are you…? Why are you here?" Katya asked him as Touma closed the door behind him. She reached over and flipped the light switch so the lights came on.

"You worried me. You just… ran off." Touma told Katya, gently resting his hand on her upper arm. "Did I upset you?"

Katya scoffed as if the suggestion was ridiculous. "You don't have the power to upset me." She told him, her face harsher than he'd ever seen it.

After a moment, she sighed and her face softened. "Sorry," she murmured, looking away from him and moving her arm out of Touma's hold. "But no, I wasn't upset."

"So what was it? What is going on with you?" Touma asked.

"It's not important, Touma." Katya told him. She crossed her arms in front of herself and turned so that she faced away from him.

"Yes, it is," Touma said, taking steps so that he was directly behind her. He slid an arm around her waist, but Katya didn't move or tell him to let go. "You _never_ tell me _anything_, Katya. I worry about you all th-"

Katya turned around in his embrace and brought her lips to his. Because he had been talking, his mouth had been open and Touma felt her tongue slip into his mouth. It was the first time the two of them had gone beyond just the touch of lips on lips, and Touma felt his heart pounding in his chest. His mind went completely blank, and he found himself gripping Katya at the waist. The only sound he could hear was the roar of his blood in his veins, and he was vaguely aware of Katya pushing him against the wall and almost pulling at his hair.

He let out a groan, and Katya briefly pulled away, but before she could say anything, Touma pulled her back in for another kiss. He wanted more of her, wanted her so close he could smell that scent of hers, the spicy citrus smell that he kept smelling on her ever since their date. He broke the kiss again, but let his lips trail down to her neck. Katya let out a murmur he could only interpret as approval, and he let his lips rest against the fluttering pulse on her neck.

Her heart was racing, perhaps even more than his. Touma pulled away from Katya's neck to whisper in her ear.

"I… Katya, I…" But before Touma could finish, Katya had pulled away, grabbed his hand, and pulled him toward the direction of her bedroom.

As she closed the bedroom door behind her and turned to face him, Touma realized what was going on, and became aware of his erection for the first time. He blushed as Katya looked at him, unsure of what to say and where to begin.

Katya embraced him, sliding her arms around his neck and resting her forehead on his so that they were gazing into each other's eyes. "Are you sure?" she asked him, her voice sounding a million miles away to Touma's ears.

"Isn't the guy supposed to ask the girl that?" Touma replied lightly, smiling as he heard Katya giggle and felt the tension lift.

"I'm more experienced, remember?" she reminded him. "I can take the lead if you want…"

Touma paused for a moment, before pulling away slightly and slowly sliding his hands underneath Katya's shirt, hesitating as he felt the warm skin underneath. He took a deep breath. Katya seemed to notice his hesitation, and spoke up.

"I'm not made of glass, Touma," Katya said, her voice barely a whisper. "I won't break."

"Just… Tell me if I'm doing anything wrong." Touma told her. "I don't want to hurt you."

Katya seemed to want to say something to that, but she only nodded and stood there, obviously letting Touma set the pace.

Touma took his time removing her clothes. Part of it was nerves- more than once he had to pause to steady his hands and keep them from shaking- but it was more than that. It was the anticipation as he touched the bare skin beneath the articles of clothing, feeling Katya's softness, and wondering what it would like when he peeled the cloth away. It was the slow reveal as her skin became more exposed to him, the nakedness that felt like a secret she was letting him in on.

It was the way Katya looked at him with absolute trust as he stripped her down. She had never really looked at him that way before.

Touma had gotten Katya down to her bra and panties before he paused and pulled away. Katya looked at him with curiosity. He blushed, but spoke anyway.

"Aren't you supposed to touch me, too?" he asked her.

Katya smiled. She took his hand and led him to her bed. The two of them sat there, facing each other, before Katya reached over and pulled Touma's shirt over his head.

Katya was quicker at stripping Touma than he had been with her. Any touches from her seemed quicker, purposeful. She wasn't hesitant or shy as her hands pulled him down with her as she reclined on her bed. Touma went to make a joke as she removed his pants, wanting to say something about her skill at removing his clothes even as he lay on top of her, and then she gently cupped him through his boxers, and he forgot the words on his lips as he almost jolted from the sudden contact.

"I… I'm so-" Katya moved her hand away and tried to apologize, but Touma caught her lips in a savage kiss and brought her hands back down.

"More," Touma mumbled against her lips. "Liked it… Just wasn't expecting it."

Katya giggled breathily in his ear, and pushed him away, forcing both of them to sit up.

"We're still wearing too many clothes." She teased him, her gaze sweeping over their underwear. Her hands went to remove her bra, but Touma grasped them in his own and pulled them away.

"Let me," he told her, his hands reaching around and his fingers making short work of the clasp. Katya shrugged her bra off and tossed it to the side. The rest of their underwear was discarded in a similar manner, and Katya reached for him with gentle hands.

All of his nerve endings seemed to kick into overdrive as she stroked him. Touma had masturbated before, but… This was a thousand times better. The feel of her hands, the variance in pressure… Touma's entire body felt as though it were threatening to come undone in Katya's hands.

Katya's hands left his groin, and Touma let out a whine of protest, the power of speech lying somewhere beyond his capacity. Katya only smiled and her hands settled first on his shoulders and she rested a soft, wet kiss against his neck. From there, her hands seemed to move along his body slowly, awakening every part of him as she slowly, leisurely traced the contours of his body with her hands. He trembled as she touched him, the nerve endings of his skin coming alive and igniting like a fireworks display. His body felt ready to explode; like he was a powder keg and Katya had thrown a lit match at him.

Touma froze as she pulled her hands away and looked at him. What to do now? For the first time, he became aware he really had no clue what he was doing, and he began to panic. Katya would laugh at him, he just knew it. What was he thinking…?

_Just go with it_, he commanded himself. Taking a deep breath, Touma let his hands tangle into Katya's hair. He pulled at it lightly, and smirked when Katya let out a soft murmur of pleasure.

Touma traversed Katya's body slowly. A nip at her neck. A light twist of her nipples between his fingers. Kissing the curve of her hip and letting his tongue lick at the beads of sweat that lay on her skin. Part of it was about seeing what she liked: Touma knew that he himself was responsive to generally anything, but seeing what Katya liked made him feel more confident. As he discovered her, he felt surer of himself.

When Touma finally dared to let his fingers travel between Katya's legs, he only did so with the gentlest touch. He slid his fingers inside her, but it was brief before she gently took his hand and moved it away from her.

"Oh, god, did I hurt you? Katya, I'm sor-" Touma realized as Katya pressed her lips against his that if the two of them were good at anything, it was getting each other to shut up.

"Touma." She gazed into his eyes, and Touma stared back, confused. Katya rolled her eyes and took him in her hand again, but this time she began to guide his erection inside her.

_Oh._ _Oh__. That's what she wanted. Brilliant, Touma. Absolutely brilliant. You're an idiot._

Touma took Katya's hint, and gently pushed inside her the rest of the way. There, he paused, both to let Katya adjust to him and to let himself take in the new feelings coursing through him. It was… different, wonderful, intense… a million words came and left his mind to describe this moment, but he only knew that it was beyond anything he had experienced before. It was more than the physical sensations that he could only vaguely register as _tightness _and _wetness _and _heat_, it was the emotional closeness he felt to Katya as he buried his face in the crook between her neck and shoulder. Pressing his lips to her neck, he blew a warm shuddering breath against her skin as he pulled away, and murmured, "Thank you, thank you, thank yo-"

"Thank me later, just _move_ already." Katya told him, but her voice was light, not harsh and demanding.

"Way to kill the moment." Touma teased, lifting his head and frowning playfully at her.

But he moved, slowly. Katya let out a whine of protest at his languid speed, and he stopped. "Quiet," he told her, bringing his face close to hers. "Or I'll stop."

"Stop and the moment won't be the only thing I kill." She told him, and Touma let out a short laugh as he picked up the pace.

As Touma continued to thrust into Katya, the two of them began playing a game of sorts with each other. One of them would bring their face close to the other's, and they held there, standing on the precipice of a kiss… and then one of them would pull away, only to start over again. Sometimes the tension would overflow, and one would kiss the other, but it was mostly about letting it build, driving each other insane with the tease of it.

The world grew smaller for Touma as he kept altering his pace, trying to make everything last. The world only consisted of himself and Katya and her bed, the only sounds that he could hear the sounds of their increasingly heavy breathing.

It surprised him that Katya reached climax first. He was prepared for awkwardness and apologies on his part, a brief fumble that both of them wouldn't talk about after in their mortification. It didn't occur to him that their first time had already exceeded any meager expectation he had until he felt Katya shudder and gasp underneath him and felt himself being almost clenched by her warmth (and as that happened the only thing he could really think was how the tightness and warmth of Katya climaxing around him was so much better than any hand).

Touma's own climax followed soon after, and he found himself biting his lip and just riding the wave. Everything, even this familiar sensation, felt new and different now. His breaths became shallow and quick as his climax edged off and he buried his face in Katya's neck again. He mumbled something against her skin, but even he wasn't sure of what he had said.

He would have been content to lay there inside Katya forever, but as he came back to himself and the surroundings around him, he found himself sliding away from her and moving to lie beside her. Katya shifted as well, moving closer to him and resting her head on his chest.

Touma slipped an arm around her and held her there, wanting her to feel how his heart still pounded in his chest. He lightly pressed a kiss to the top of her head, content in their continued closeness.

"Thank you," he said again. Katya didn't respond, instead choosing to tangle one of his hands in hers. In the ensuing quiet and peace of the moment, Touma felt compelled to tell her his feelings, make the moment complete, but he was unsure of what to say for a long while. Part of a poem he had read came to him, and he knew it was perfect for the moment.

"I love what I do not have. You are so far. My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights. But night comes and starts to sing to me. The moon turns its clockwork dream. The biggest stars look at me with your eyes. And as I love you, the pines in the wind want to sing your name with their leaves of wire." Touma pulled Katya up as he recited the lines of the poem to her. He wanted to see her face, see her reaction as he poured his heart out to her.

Katya merely smiled and kissed his cheek, and Touma felt his heart crack at her gesture, but it was nothing compared to her next words.

"I think you're getting the hang of being romantic, Touma. I can't think of a single thing you did wrong just now."

And as she nestled back into his chest again and fell asleep against him, Touma could almost feel his heart break.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Yeah… Rating's officially up now, I'd say. I wrote this in more-or-less one go, and it's almost 4,000 words. It's also quite unrealistic, but any attempt at realism would have seriously cut down on romance, and that was the whole point, really: romance and heartbreak, both of which I seem to have dealt in spades. The sheer length is also why I'm posting this a little late, but nobody minds too much, right?<p>

I'm not sure when the next part will be up. I want to work on some stuff for _Companion Pieces_ first, mainly the huge backlog of one-shots that make up a fair chunk of backstory for other characters, as well as some supporting characters' reactions to events they witness or hear about. So I think I'll be back to this in… two and a half weeks, provided life doesn't get in the way.

Speaking of _Companion Pieces_, a sidestory/alternate viewpoint of this chapter is up now.


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